Flash and a Bang
by InvisibleNinja1234
Summary: There was a flash and a bang, and suddenly Naruto finds herself awake, 16 years in the past during the nine tails attack. How will this affect the future? How will she fit in? Find out in this thrilling adventure. FemNaruto, and whatever pairings I feel fit the flow/ are requested.
1. Chapter 1: Flash and a Bang

**Chapter 1: Flash Bang**

 **A/N: Sooooo time travel? Seems like a good plan to me.**

 **The time jump goes to when the nine tails attacks and, and I'm going to say that Kakashi is 16. I'm not sure how old he is, but Naruko/Naruto is going to be the same age as that, 16.  
**

* * *

"You won't get away that easily," Madera shouted. He walked menacingly towards the blonde jinchuriki. He was missing part of his mask, showing off his red sharingan eye. He had blood dripping down his arm from the battle with the other leaf ninja, but none of them could seem to finish the job.

 _'They never can seem to defeat me,'_ Madara laughed to himself

"What are you laughing at you freak!" Naruko shouted angrily

She was bleeding from several deep cuts on her arms and legs. She tried to stumble away, but she did not have the energy to move very fast. She had used up nearly all her chakra, and was running out of ideas.

As she looked around at her comrades, some passed out, others too injured to move, she began to panic.

 _'Kyuubi what do I do? Please help me!"_

' ** _You have used up a considerable amount of chakra, I fear that you may lose this battle and indeed fall prey to that damn Akatuski,'_**

 _'Then why are you even telling me this if you can't help?'_ Naruko snapped back. She was desperate and couldn't help the sharp tone directed at the nine tails.

' ** _I do not have to help you. You rely on MY power not yours. If you really want me to stop helping you I will. If you would rather I go back to trying to control you and ignoring you we can go back to the old days. You are lucky that I have the goodness in my heart to lend you my power so often, you ungrateful…'_**

 _'I'm sorry I really am,"_ Naruko sighed back, rubbing her temples, ' _You know what will happen if I get captured. I don't want them to use you Kyuubi. I just don't know what to do,"_

Sensing Naruko's weakness, and inner struggle, Madara swiftly ran towards her, and out of instinct Naruko stepped back, ready to hit him in that stupid swirled mask of his.

 _'My fist went right through him… I totally forgot about this… Damn it,'_

Taking advantage of Naruko's imbalance, Madara pulled out a metal pole and pushed it straight through Naruko's chest.

"Naruko!" he heard a weakened Kakashi shout

She turned her head around, feeling as if she was drunk. Her surroundings seeming to blur around her as she turned her head, "K-Kakashi? You're still alive," she stammered

"Naruko get out of there! Now!" Kakashi yelled again, desperate to save his student, but not able to do anything in his condition. He had broken his arm and could not weave signs.

'Maybe it had been a mistake to leave Naruko out of the battle. Maybe they could have defeated Madara…. No I can't think about that now, I have to find a way to save Naruko,"

The injured ninja tried to stand up but quickly fell back down. His efforts were in vain, and he was too wiped out from using his mangekyou sharingan for so long

Naruko watched as Kakashi tried to stand up and failed. She looked around at her fallen teammates, most not able to move from the injuries they had sustained from fighting the Akatuski. They had managed to defeat all but Madara, and Killer Bee was still fighting with Kabuto. She coughed up blood and snarled at Madara, "You will never take me, especially from my friends. I care too much about my village and everyone in it to let you ruin everything!"

Madara let out a dark chuckle, "My dear, it is too late to spew nonsense like that. I'll be taking you with me now,"

Madara started to suck in Naruko and in her last efforts to escape she wove the first hand sign that came to mind and poured the rest of her chakra into it.

There was a giant flash.

Then was only white.

A swirling sensation came over Naruko as she felt a warm feeling come over her. All she could see was the blinding white light. She squeezed her eyes shut as she suddenly felt herself being thrown through the air and slammed onto a hard ground.

There was only black.

A loud buzzing noise.

Muddled voices called out.

' _What just happened,'_

The voices became a little clearer and she heard some shouting

"….et…. Dic no…. urry… ello? C... n yo... hear me…? Hello?"

Naruko opened her eyes and looked around at the dark surroundings, seeing only a blended mass of murky greens and blacks.

She turned towards a fuzzy face with a bright yellow halo around it, seeing the colors blend together pleasantly.

"Hey stay with …. ome on. Can we ge…edic over here NO…?"

Naruko blinked slowly, her eyelids getting heavy.

"Hey, don't close your eyes yet, you're going to be okay,"

 _'That voice is so nice…'_

"I need you to stay awake okay?"

 _'Maybe just a short nap…'_

"Do…t…. tay…. W..ke… he…."

Naruko slipped into the darkness and watched the yellow slowly fade into black.

Minato had transported the nine tails outside of the village and was racking his brain for what he could do

' _I need to seal the nine tails into someone... but who?'_ He thought to himself.

He was running out of time… The only person he could think of was…

 _'Naruko… No I can't, he's my son… My baby, I couldn't do anything to him, Kushina would never forgive me… But the village is also so precious to me… Naruko would be a hero… I could seal half in him and half…."_

Then there was a flash of light and the nine tails suddenly disappeared. In its place, he saw a chunk of land missing and in the very center…. A small blonde girl. Minato ran towards her quickly, but cautiously, not knowing if it was one of the nine tail's tricks. But when he got there he saw a small puddle of blood forming around her.

"Oh my god..." he muttered to himself, "Hey are you alright?" He asked, but the girl didn't seem to be coherent.

Minato stared at her for a second. _'She looks just like Kushina… With blonde hair…'_

He shook his head and snapped out of the thought. He could worry about look-a-likes later. He picked up the girl gingerly, careful not to hurt he. She groaned slightly and Minato transported himself to the large group of ninjas waiting outside of the range of the nine tails attack. He set her down gently and called out, "Help! Somebody get a medic now! I've got an injured shinobi, hurry please!" Minato looked down and saw the blonde's eyes fluttering open. They had an unfocused look to them, and she didn't seem to recognize where she was, "Hello? Can you hear me? Hello?"

He was worried about this girl, she didn't look good

"Hey, stay with me come on. Can we get a medic over here NOW?" He yelled, getting agitated at the slow response time of the medical corp. He would have to talk to them about recruiting more medical ninja, this response time was abysmal.

' _Maybe I can get Lady Tsunade to come back…'_ he mused to himself

He looked behind him as he heard steps approaching.

Kakashi Hatake, followed by his friend Might Guy,

"Sensei what's," Kakashi started then took a step back as he saw the bleeding female under his sensei, "What... I…" He stuttered before Minato interrupted him

"Find a medical ninja now Kakashi. Please hurry,"

Kakashi nodded quickly and motioned Guy come with him before hurrying off to find a medical ninja.

Minato looked back at the strange blonde, pressing on her wound to attempt to stop the bleeding. He heard her groan quietly in pain, and start to close her eyes, "Hey don't close your eyes yet, you're going to be okay,"

He was very worried about this girl, appearing out of nowhere, somehow making the nine tails disappear. He saw her eyes open again, and he tried again to talk to her, "I need you to stay awake okay?"

He lifted her shirt to get a better look at the wound in her stomach, and was taken by surprise by the strange sealing jutsu on the girl's stomach.

' _This is the seal I was going to use to seal the nine tails in….'_

Minato gasped, ' _No way this could be a jinchuriki…'_

He placed his hand on the wound, right above the seal, and he felt a slight stir from inside the blonde's chakra _. 'It certainly feels like there is something in there, I will have to take a closer look later when she's…'_ he saw her eyes fluttering again, looking as if she was falling into unconsciousness, ' _Shit… she's lost a lot of blood, where the hell is Kakashi?'_

Just as he was thinking that he saw Kakashi appear before him holding a medical ninja.

He recognized the injury immediately, and knelt to start healing the girl, "Lord fourth I am going to need you to move your hands for me,"

"O-of course," Minato said, taking his red coated hands off the girl. He saw her eyes roll back in her head as the medical ninja started the healing process. His eyes widened and he tried to get the girl to stay up, "Don't fall asleep just yet, stay with us! Wake up! Were here to help you! Hey,"

The medical ninja interrupted Minato, "She has lost a substantial amount of blood, we need to take her to the hospital as soon…"

Minato let the words fade away as he took a deep breath. They had really gotten lucky this time. "Kakashi I want you to keep watch over this girl. We don't know who, or what she is,"

Kakashi nodded as Minato stood up, ignoring the blood covering his arms. "I am going to go check in on the other teams,"

And with a pop Minato vanished.

* * *

 **A/N: Alriiight first chapter. I am super open to recommendations you might have for the story! If there is something you're dying to see here feel free to review or PM me and I'll see what I can do. If it fits in logically with what I have planned I will definitely include it. I'm open to ships and plot ideas… so go wild!**

 **Thanks for reading, and as always reviews keep me writing!**


	2. Chapter 2: Where or When

**CHAPTER 2: Where or when**

 **A/N: Hello I'm back with another chapter! Enjoy.**

* * *

"I'm sorry to bother you like this Lord Fourth, but I thought you might want to see this," The nurse said apologetically,

"Was there a complication?" Minato said, worried something may have happened to the young girl.

"Ah… No not really, there is just this odd-looking seal on her stomach and we don't know what it is. We thought it might have something to do with the nine tails disappearance, when the girl appeared, from what you told us…" She paused slightly to choose her words, "But we really weren't sure so we thought we would ask you,"

Minato nodded, and furrowed his eyebrows.

' _This is interesting… I really want to know what exactly happened there. Is the girl a manifestation of the nine tails… or a jinchuriki? Who is she….'_

When they got to the room they were greeted by the shinobi standing outside the room. They then entered the room and observed the blonde sleeping. Minato nodded at the second shinobi keeping watch, acknowledging his presence.

"We put her under a heavy sedative to help with the healing. She should come out of it in a day or two," the nurse said confidently, "She must have really taken a beating, but the weird part is most of her wounds are almost entirely healed. The wound in her chest being the only one still needing some care. But by the time she wakes up she should be able to sit up on her own, with minimal discomfort. Of course, we will want her to stay for another couple days just to make sure she is okay. What do you think you will do about her after she is well?"

"I honestly… I don't know at the moment," Minato said truthfully, "We will have to bring in Inoichi to see if her story can be trusted," He gazed at the girl in front of him, seeing his wife in the sleeping girls face for some reason, "But she doesn't seem inherently untrustworthy to me, so I doubt we will have any problems"

"Sensei," Kakashi, who had been watching over the mystery shinobi, butted in, "You haven't even talked to her before, how would you know if she is even from this village? She could've stolen the nine tails fox and is planning on transporting it to another village! We cannot trust her yet, you are being too lenient with her. What if she is a spy?"

Minato raised his eyebrow at Kakashi and just smiled at him. Kakashi was still so uptight about rules. He needed to loosen up a bit.

Minato started to walk towards the blonde shinobi when he heard the door click. The ninja in the room all turned their heads around to see who was coming in through the door.

The door swung open slowly, and in the doorway, they saw a girl eating some instant ramen. She was wearing the standard shinobi pants and sandals, but instead of the normal blue jacket she was wearing a tight long sleeved black shirt. She had long blonde hair put up in a high pony tail…. And whiskers.

"Wait, you're…" Minato stuttered, and looked back and forth between the two clones, "How did you…?"

Naruko stopped, with some ramen still hanging out of her mouth, obviously surprised to see people in her room. She finished the ramen, gulping slightly, and walked into the room slowly. When she saw Minato though, her eyes narrowed, "Who the hell are you, and what are you doing in my hospital room?"

Kakashi stepped forward and responded coldly, "And I could say the same about you. How did you get out of here without anyone noticing? And why are you awake?"

Naruko squinted at Kakashi with distaste, "Wouldn't you like to know," She then turned and pointed at Minato and asked loudly, "So, who are you?"

"Don't talk to the Hokage like that you scum," Kakashi growled at Naruko

She turned to Kakashi glaring at him, "Don't you call me scum,"

"Yeah well, I'm not the one insulting our village leader,"

"Oh your village leader huh? DO YOU WANT TO FIGHT ME?" Naruko yelled at Kakashi

"YEAH I'D GLADLY TEACH YOU A LESSON!" Shouted Kakashi, getting riled up by the blonde

 _'I'm going to have to go into sage mode to defeat all these imposters, good thing I left my clone here to collect nature energy,'_ She thought. With a pop, she released her clone and went into sage mode, lunging at Kakashi, and pinning him to the ground with a Kunai at his throat.

' _She's so fast, I wasn't expecting this from an injured girl,'_ Kakashi thought to himself. He narrowed his one visible eye and managed to get a hit in where he remembered her wound do be. She cried out in pain, but before he could land another hit Minato grabbed Kakashi's arm and gave him a look saying, ' _stop now, or else,'_

Kakashi huffed and stood behind Minato, still glaring at the girl.

Minato offered his hand to the girl, as a sign of peace, but she recoiled from his hand, backing to the wall, "Don't touch me! I don't know who you are but stay away from me!"

Minato gave her a confused look, "Please I just want to understand what is happening, as much as you. Let me introduce myself. My Name is Minato Namikaze, and I am the fourth Hokage of the leaf vill…"

"NO YOU'RE NOT," Naruko yelled, tears leaking from her eyes from more than the hit to her previous wound, "My parents are dead, and they have been for 16 years. They were killed by the nine tails, and I've been alone since then. I know you aren't my dad," she attempted to stand up, but winced from her newly reopened wound, "Why are you doing this to me? Is this some sort of Genjutsu?"

"Father…?" Minato said, eyes wide,

He watched as the girl tried and failed many times to release a genjutsu that wasn't there.

"I only have one son… And I'm not old enough to even have a 16-year-old daughter. I don't know what you're talking about. I'm only 22 years old you know," He said with a tentative laugh.

Naruko looked suspiciously at the older shinobi, "I don't know what your game is, but you aren't going to get anything from me," She said desperately, her eyes widened as a sudden realization came over her, "Wait are you Akatuski?"

"Wait, Akat-who?" Minato asked back

"Answer me! NOW!"

"Okay! Okay! I'm not one of those Akats-whatever's you're talking about,"

"I promise I'm not here to hurt you," He said. And then got down on his knees with his palm's up, "See? No weapons. I'm just here to help you,"

Naruko stared Minato then at each individual face in the room, then again at Minato.

"Wait… Where the hell am I," Naruko asked, the fear on her face changing to confusion.

"You're in the leaf village. The nine-tails was in the middle of attacking the village when suddenly we saw you appear where the nine-tails was previously. You really saved us there," He said, scratching the back of his head out of habbit, "I didn't know what would have happened if the nine-tails had continued attacking the village,"

"Wait," Naruko asked, still confused as to where… or when… she was, "The nine tails couldn't have attacked,"

"Why is that," Minato asked.

"Because I'm the nine tails Jinchuriki, and I know for sure that Kurama is still inside my head,"

' _Right Kyuubi?'_

 ** _'I'm tired, leave me alone,'_**

"Yup still in my head,"

The people in the room stared in disbelief, and suspicion at her.

Naruko looked around at all their faces, then looking down sadly said, "Yeah I get that look a lot,"

Minato looked as if he was thinking for a minute, then mused, "So when you appeared, you must have just… taken in the nine tails," He paused for another minute, "How many Hokage's have you had?"

Naruko looked up at him, confused by the question, but still answered, "Technically we have five Hokage's, but the fourth died when the nine tails attacked so the third took over again. But then he died when Orochimaru attacked, so Granny Tsunade took over as the fifth Hokage. But then when she went into a coma after the leaf was destroyed by the Akatuski, Danzo was made into the sixth Hokage, and he was killed quickly so then Kakashi was almost the sixth or seventh Hokage, but then Granny Tsunade woke up, so she is still the fifth Hokage," She said and then took a deep breath, "Does that make sense?"

They all looked at her in disbelief.

Kakashi especially looked rattled, his mouth wide open behind his mask.

"So… What's your name by the way?" Minato asked

"Naruko," she responded.

Minato raised his eyebrows, "That's my son's name… What do you remember before you were here?"

Naruko scrunched together her eyebrows, thinking back to what had happened, "Well I was fighting Madara, because he needed the nine tails, and we were in the middle of the fourth great ninja war, so there weren't many people to help out. But he nearly had me, and I was almost out of chakra. He ran up to me and stabbed me through the chest with his pole, and was just about to teleport me away when I thought of my own jutsu to get me out of there. I thought I had done it right, because I got away," She paused, looking around the room, "But I'm starting to think that I might have done something wrong,"

Minato put his hand out for Naruko once again. This time she slowly took his help, as he helped her over to the bed to sit down.

"Naruko," Minato said slowly "I think you may have traveled into the past,"

Naruko stared back at Minato blankly for a minute.

"Uhhh are you okay?" He asked, waving his hand in front of her eyes.

The blond suddenly burst out laughing, "Time travel? Are you serious?" She continued to laugh for a moment before she saw the serious look in Minato's eyes.

"You're serious aren't you…"

Naruko looked down in sadness, "What happened to all of my friends then…" She said, almost to herself. ' _I had just gotten the love and support of my village… just to have it all ripped away from me… Just my luck… I guess I'm destined to be alone…'_

"I'm really sorry, but I don't know if you will ever see them again," Minato said, looking upset for the loss Naruko had just experienced. He could see the pain in her eyes, it was an old pain. A pain that had been there for a very long time.

Kakashi looked up at the girl and was taken aback when he saw his own sadness in her eyes. He knew what it was like to lose everyone you loved.

"Nurse Kat?" Minato asked, still looking at Naruko, "Could you run a DNA test on Naruko's blood? I just want to confirm that she is really my daughter from the future,"

The nurse nodded quickly, anxious to get out of this tense room. ' _I was just not cut out for this sort of ninja drama, I can't wait to sit down with some tea and relax tonight. This has been such a crazy day,'_ With that thought she walked out of the room to do the test.

"Kakashi,"

"Yes sir?"

"Would you go get Inoichi?"

Kakashi nodded and ran out the door to get him.

"It's not that I don't trust you… I just need to confirm everything you are saying. Otherwise I wouldn't be a very good Hokage!" Minato said with a weak smile, "In the meantime…" His eyes wandered to her stomach, where the supposed seal was, "Do you mind if I take a look at that seal of yours? The nurse told me about it and I've been dying to see what kind of seal I thought up in the past,"

Naruko nodded and leaned back on the bed, pulling up her shirt right below her breasts so that he could see the whole seal.

Minato leaned in close to look at the seal, "Interesting…"

He started mumbling incoherent things to himself.

"Do you mind if I touch it?" He asked absentmindedly

Naruko hesitated, but she didn't sense any perverted feelings from him. In fact, she felt safe around him. She nodded and watched as he traced a finger over the different parts of the seal. When he placed his hand over the center of the seal, he got a strange look on his face.

"What is it?" She asked, worried what the look might mean.

"Well there's definitely a nine-tails fox in there, I can feel its chakra,"

Minato pursed his lips then turned back to her with an inquisitive look on his face, "I'll be right back, don't move,"

Minato transported himself away, and then was back a few seconds later, holding Kushina in his arms.

"Hey what's with the sudden trip, where a…" Kushina asked loudly, but then looked over to the bed. She was surprised by the girl sitting on the bed. With her shirt up?

"Who is this?" She said with curiosity

Minato chuckled, "You two even sound the same…"

Minato showed her over to the blonde shinobi, "This is Naruko, and we think that she has come from the future by ways of some unknown jutsu, and happens to be the new… or old? Nine tails jinchuriki,"

Kushina's mouth fell open, "Wha- I- Who is she?"

"She is a fellow member of the Uzumaki clan, and is apparently our daughter from the future,"

"We have a daughter?" Kushina said excitedly

Naruko butted in, "Actually you both died in the nine tails attack,"

Kushina's face suddenly fell, looking concerned.

"You two gave your lives and sealed the nine tails inside of me… I'm the only child you two had. I don't know why you had a boy in this time though, it's weird that it changed,"

Minato nodded in agreement

"Oh," Kushina said, a bit taken aback by the news. She then smiled and went to hug her newfound daughter, "I am so happy you grew up to be so beautiful oh my gosh! You are amazing! And you got Mina-Kun's beautiful blonde hair I'm so happy,"

Naruko blushed a bit and looked down, "I love your hair though, It's so beautiful,"

Kushina's eyes widened and she hugged Naruko even tighter, "I just knew today was going to be a good day! You are the most perfect child I could have ever hoped for! You…."

Minato looked around the room awkwardly, listening to Kushina babble on about Naruko for a few minutes, then cleared his throat.

"Kushina, honey, I actually brought you here for a different reason,"

She looked up with a smile.

"I wanted you to look at the seal on Naruko's stomach and tell me what you think of it,"

"Oh?" She looked down at the seal, and glared at it, "That damn fox, I hated him so much,"

 ** _'Do I hear that pesky Uzumaki who chained me to that rock for all those years?'_** Kurama growled,

' _Hush she can't even hear you, ya big scardy cat,'_ Naruko said to Kurama with a chuckle

 ** _'Yes but I can hear her. Tell her that I hope she dies in a- '''_**

' _Yeah, yeah I'll tell her,'_

Naruko looked up at Kushina and said, "Man, you must have had a rocky relationship with Kyuubi, he doesn't seem to like you much,"

Kushina's eyes flashed, "You're talking to him?"

Naruko nodded, "I managed to get control of his chakra, and now we actually get along really well,"

"Can you show me?" Kushina asked, "Is that okay to do here Mina-kun?"

"I don't see why not," Minato responded with a shrug.

"Alright here I go," Naruko said. She then closed her eyes and when she opened them she was surrounded by a yellow flame.

"Wow!" Kushina said, "It's beautiful!"

The couple gazed at the chakra surrounding Naruko in awe.

"I never realized the nine tails could have such beautiful power," Kushina mumbled to herself.

"What the hell is this?" They heard a man's voice say.

The three ninja turned to see Inoichi and Kakashi both looking wide eyed at the girl.

The girl who was on fire.

With golden flames.

In the middle of a hospital.

"Someone get some water! This girl is on fire!"

* * *

 **A/N: Alright that's the ball game! Well the second chapter of the ball game... I hope yo all liked this story so far! I'm trying to make this less of a generic time travel story where Naruko is all dark and strong and crazy. And I kind of wanted to make it more of a light hearted thing? Kinda? I DON'T KNOW? Anyways I hope you enjoyed!**

 **Please leave a review! I will take any advice or encouragement. It really does keep the fingers flying on this 'ol keyboard here.**


	3. Chapter 3: The Escape Artist

**Chapter 3: The Escape Artist**

 **A/N: Here's a little extra-extra-special-exclusive footage of the escape of Nartuo Uzumaki!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

The smell of antiseptic was the first thing she noticed about the room.

' _I'm in a hospital,'_ Naruko thought to herself.

She sensed a strong chakra in the room, and maybe another one close by, so she cracked one of her eyes open to see who was there. She saw a young shinobi reading a book, slouched in the chair. He didn't look like he was really paying attention, but she waited anyways.

Suddenly the shinobi stood up and walked to the door, "Hey, I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back. Make sure the girl doesn't sleep walk away," He said sarcastically.

He didn't know any better.

They were told she would be asleep for at least another day and a half.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Naruko sprang out of bed and made a shadow clone.

"Just stay here until I get back, okay?" She whispered to her doppelganger.

With a snicker, Naruko crept quietly to the window and opened it slowly. Without a creek, she managed to open the window, and jump out to escape.

Naruko grinned wildly, proud of her stealth, ' _I'm going to need some different clothes if I'm going to get away with this…'_

She walked along the side of the building, scanning the windows for an empty room. When she found one, she quickly opened the window and invited herself into the room.

' _I wonder if they keep spare clothes around here…'_ Naruko thought to herself, then shivered as her feet touched the frigid tiles. After a quick scan around the room, Naruko exited out the door. As she was walking down the hall she saw a sign that read _Laundry Room_ and an arrow pointing down the hall. Following the signs, she was lead to a room full of white sheets, blankets, pillows, and a small pile of freshly cleaned clothes.

 _'Bingo! These must be from the patients in the hospital,'_

Naruko looked through the piles, but her trademark orange clothes were nowhere to be seen. With a sigh and a shrug Naruko picked out some pants that looked like they would fit, and a fitted long sleeved black shirt.

 _'No shoes?'_ Naruko thought to herself as she looked around. _'It looks like they keep the shoes by their own beds… Wait where the hell are all my clothes then?'_ she thought angrily to herself

"These damn hospital people think they can steal my clothes!" she shouted to nobody in particular.

 **"** Hey, did you hear that?" Naruko heard voices approaching the room, and in a panic jumped to the ceiling, walking silently above the two male nurses who came running in.

"It was probably just Bonto playing a trick on us gain," One of the nurses said to the other.

While the nurses squabbled about what the voice was, Naruko quickly darted out of the room. With a flip, she landed on the floor and sighed in relief ' _That was a close one…Where do I go now though…I need some shoes, ramen, maybe a kunai… maybe some ramen… No shoes first then ramen…'_

With a nod she continued her quest around the hospital.

-.-.-.-.-.-] **Back in Naruko's Hospital Room** [-.-.-.-.-.-

The spiky haired ninja, named Kakashi Hatake, yawned as he returned to the room

"Can it get any better than this?" His comrade said as he approached the door.

Kakashi raised his eyebrow, confused with the statement, "What do you mean, Tenzo?"

"I mean, we are getting to do a B-ranked mission, by doing practically nothing. We get to relax for the first time in a while…" Tenzo trailed off, unsure if he had said something to offend his elder.

Kakashi looked up, then with a shrug said, "Yeah I guess you're right. Although it is ranked B for a reason. We don't know how powerful this ninja is. So, if she wakes up and tries to make trouble, we'll have to deal with it,"

Tenzo nodded eagerly, "Yes. I won't take this too lightly,"

Kakashi eye smiled, then said, "But in the meantime, I get to catch up on some reading," pulling out his book to hold up.

"What are you reading?"

"It's called ' _Tales of a Gutsy Ninja'_. Minato-sensei recommended it to me. Apparently, _his_ sensei wrote it. It's pretty good so far,"

Tenzo nodded in reply, "You really do read a lot of books Kakashi-senpai,"

Kakashi just shrugged, "Well I've got to get back to my chair. I don't want sensei to see us slacking off,"

And with that he walked into the room to watch over the sleeping girl.

-.-.-.-.-.-] **With Naruko** [-.-.-.-.-.-

Naruko strolled down the halls, whistling innocently to herself, and casually peeking into the rooms to see if there were any shoes.

' _Why do hospitals have to have such cold floors,'_ she mused to herself. Finally, she saw a room with the door half open, and a pair of shoes by the bedside, but she heard people talking in the room.

With a huff, she slouched against the wall, trying to think of how to get the shoes.

'Aha!' She proclaimed in her head, and with a devilish giggle she said, "Harem no Justsu"

-.-.-.-.-

"Why _hello there,_ " Naruko said sexily,

Four heads snapped to where the voice was,

" _I heard you boys wanted some entertainment"_

The men in the room all nodded profusely, while turning as red as tomatoes.

While her clone distracted the ninja, she shuffled on the floor to take the shoes.

' _Man, these actually fit? This guy has small feet… Or do I just have big feet…'_

An image of herself walking round with clown shoes filled her thoughts for a moment, and she shook her head, shivering from the thought. She decided to grab a few kunai and shurikin from the unsuspecting ninja as well, ' _What a bunch of suckers,'_ She then shimmied back out of the room, dispersing the clone with a " _Bye Bye!"_

She heard a chorus of 'Wait where'd she go?' Before she ran off, giggling to herself. People are just too easy to trick.

She turned a corner, and waited for her pursuers to pass. She then strolled leisurely down the hall in search on one last thing.

 _'Where do I find instant ramen…'_ She dug around in the pocket of her pants, and was greeted by the satisfying clinking of coins in her pocket, ' _Perfect'_

She walked down to the lobby to find the convenience shop that would sell some cheap ramen.

"Hello! could I have the pork flavored instant ramen?"

Little did she know, Minato walked in the doors behind her, asking for what room the very same ninja was in. After exchanging some words a nurse nodded and motioned for him to follow her up to the room.

-.-.-.-.-.-] **Back in Naruko's Hospital Room** [-.-.-.-.-.-

Kakashi gazed at her peaceful looking face, admiring how relaxed she looked. He thought back to when they had found her a couple days ago.

 _Kakashi ran up to where Minato was calling him, to see a girl lying on the ground. Her hair, though partially caked in mud, shone like Minato's in a brilliant shade of yellow. Her face was pale, and her eyes glassy. He looked down to see blood slowly covering his sensei's hands. His eyes widened, and he managed to stammer, "What… I…" before Minato interrupted him_

 _"Find a medical ninja now Kakashi. Please hurry,"_

 _Kakashi stared at the girl for a second, wondering who she was, and how she got hurt. He then nodded quickly and motioned for Guy to follow him. As he ran through the streets, trying to find a medical ninja who could come, he worried about that girl. 'I wonder if she will be okay… that injury looked serious…'_

 _"Excuse me, Sir? The Hokage needs you to come help him," He said to a medical ninja seeming to finish up with his previous patient. The ninja only nodded and followed behind Kakashi._

Kakashi stared at the girl for a little longer, then got up to walk closer to her, setting the book down on the chair as he stood up. He leaned in slightly to look at her face, noticing some similarity to Kushina Uzumaki, thinking maybe she was part of the same clan as her.

' _She's beautiful…'_ Kakashi thought to himself.

Her skin was no longer pale, but a healthy tan color. Her hair and face were freshly cleaned, and she smelled like lavender. He watched absentmindedly as the sun created odd patterns on her face. It was shining softly through the leaves of the tree blocking half the window.

He kept staring at her face. It captivated him, and drew him in.

He looked at her shining blonde hair pooled around her head and her closed eyes; at her lightly blushed cheeks and her thin whiskers; at her small nose, curving slightly up, and her delicate pink lips.

He imagined a sweet smile gracing her face as she woke up to the soft sun of the summer, and the quiet sound of leaves brushing up against the window.

' _I hope she's not an enemy spy…'_ He thought with a smile. After gazing at her for a few more seconds he sighed and turned away, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He plopped back down in his chair, picked up his book, and didn't read a single word. Instead he gazed at the page thoughtlessly. He let his mind wander to illusions of sunshine and a cerulean blue sky as he drifted off into a daydream.

-.-.-.-.-.-] **Right Outside the Door of Naruko's Room** [-.-.-.-.-.-

"Hello Tenzo," Minato said with a smile, "How's the watch going?"

Tenzo stood up a little straighter, putting a serious look on his face, "It's going pretty well I'd say. She hasn't really moved,"

Minato nodded and opened the door. He saw Kakashi jump a little, as if he was daydreaming,

He smiled to himself, then nodded at Kakashi. He would pretend he didn't see Kakashi slacking off. He was normally very observant of the rules.

"So, we put her under a sedative to help with the healing…"

Minato zoned out for a minute, thinking about the girl.

"…What will you do with her after she is well?"

Minato looked up and stared for a second, contemplating, "I honestly… Don't know at the moment,"

-.-.-.-.-.-] **In the Hallway Leading up to Naruko's Room** [-.-.-.-.-.-

Naruko strolled confidently through the halls of the hospital. Nobody had called her out, and she doubted anyone even knew she was gone. ' _I wonder how I'll get back into the room…'_ she thought, ' _Eh… I'll just walk in…'_ She decided, slurping her ramen with satisfaction. Having not eaten anything solid for a few days, she was (understandably) craving something in her stomach. And as per usual she chose to eat her favorite food around.

Ramen.

-.-.-.-.-.-] **Inside Naruko's Room** [-.-.-.-.-.-

"… What if she's a spy?" Kakashi objected, ' _There's no way she's a spy… But what if she is? What if that prett- stupid face is just a big trick to get us to trust her?'_ Kakashi doubted himself, but he couldn't allow himself to indulge in those thoughts. If his sensei wouldn't take this seriously, then he would have to.

-.-.-.-.-.-] **Right Outside the Door of Naruko's Room** [-.-.-.-.-.-

Naruko stopped outside her room, noticing a young shinobi standing with his back against the wall.

He looked up at her and raised one eyebrow, "Do you need something?"

Naruko finished her mouthful of noodles and swallowed loudly, "Yeaaaaaaah, sorry I'm totally running late here. I'm supposed to be in there too and I just totally slept through my alarm and I forgot to eat breakfast so I had to eat instant ramen, and It's just been such a hard day, and-''

Tenzo rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah okay just go in already,"

"Thanks," She said with a contagious smile, making the sides of Tenzo's lip twitch

 _'She's pretty cute'_

-.-.-.-.-.-] **Inside Naruko's Room** [-.-.-.-.-.-

Minato started to walk to the bed when he heard the door click…

-.-.-.-.-.-] **Right Outside Naruko's Room** [-.-.-.-.-.-

Naruko twisted the handle of the door, using her hips to push the door open while simultaneously finishing off the last of the noodles in her ramen bowl.

When she saw a group of people crowded around her bed she gulped,

"Wait, you're…" She heard Minato say, and watched as they all gave the clone and Naruko confused looks. Her attention was on the imposters in the room though.

"Who the hell are you, and what are you doing in my hospital room?"

* * *

 **A/N: This is just a short little thing about just how Naruko managed to get out of that stuffy hospital.**

 **Thanks to my lovely reviewers and followers3 I love you all!**

 **As always feel free to PM me about anything, or to bug me about updating if I haven't.**

 **/(^u^)/.-.`:-:-`..`3**


	4. Chapter 4: The Tale of a Flaming Ninja

**Chapter 4: The Tale of a Flaming Ninja**

 **A/N: I definitely meant to get this out sooner, but here it is! Enjoy!**

* * *

 _The three ninja turned to see Inoichi and Kakashi both looking wide eyed at the girl._

 _The girl who was on fire._

 _With golden flames._

 _In the middle of a hospital._

 _"Someone get some water! This girl is on fire!"_

"No no no no it's okay, WAIT" Naruko yelled just as Kakashi drenched her with water.

As Naruko released the nine tails cloak she sent a glare towards Kakashi, who scratched his head and shrugged

"Sorry, he said you were on fire so I just tried to put you out"

"Whatever," Naruko mumbled under her breath, ringing out her sopping wet hair.

Minato stepped forward to try to break the tension, and stated "So I brought Inoichi here to confirm what you have said about your… Past… or future I guess,"

Naruko nodded, and moved to sit on the bed.

"Inoichi, is it possible to also show me what you see?"

"I believe so, Hokage-sama. If you can just place your hand on my head I should be able to let you see what I see," He then turned to Naruko, addressing her, "Naruko, you are going to have to let me see into your mind. This will not hurt at all, but I cannot do this if you resist. In order for this to work, without putting you in the interrogation chamber, you will have to temporarily give me your conscience. Is that clear?"

"Yes," She responded.

"Alright, with that let's get started. Just so you know, you may have to relieve some painful memories through this jutsu,"

Naruko nodded, and with that Inoichi placed his hand on her head and closed his eyes.

As Kakashi watched from the other side of the room, it seemed as though nothing was happening at first. He gazed at Naruko's face and noticed how peaceful it looked. Then he watched as her eyebrows furrowed, and she pressed her lips together. ' _Is she in pain…?'_

Then he saw the first tear fall. She didn't move to wipe away the tear, and sat still as more rolled down her face. He could only watch as the emotions flashed across her face.

Sadness.

Brief moments of happiness.

More tears.

Then he saw her face slowly relax again.

He was glad that she wasn't upset anymore, but by thinking that he seemed to jinx it.

He watched again as her face turned sad again.

It was hard to watch, but he couldn't seem to look away. He watched her face as flickers of emotion passed by. He glanced over at his sensei, and saw a deep frown on his face. He knew that his sensei was a sensitive person, and glanced over at Kushina who looked concerned as well. His eyes snapped back to Minato though when he heard him inhale sharply at something he must have seen in Naruko's memories.

Naruko seemed to be getting upset again, ' _I wish there was something I could do to help her…"_ He thought to himself, imagining what it would be like to relive Rin and Obito's deaths.

As he looked at Naruko's face again he saw her eyes snap open, tears still running down her face. She looked down and wiped away the tears, taking a few deep breaths to calm her emotions.

She smiled weakly at Minato.

"How did I do?" She asked softly.

"I didn't… I'm… I'm so sorry… About everything I…" Minato stuttered, seemingly lost for words, "Kushina, I… We put that thing in her…" He said brokenheartedly to his wife

"Mina-chan what are you talking about...?" Kushina asked worriedly.

Minato ran his hand through his hair, but before he could say anything else Naruko spoke up.

"It's okay, really! I'm perfectly fine!" she said with a smile, "It wasn't your fault, you didn't have a choice. Besides, it never actually happened here, so you don't need to worry about it or take the blame,"

Minato stared at her for a long time, contemplating what he had saw.

Inoichi was silent, staring at Naruko in slight disbelief and sympathy.

Minato finally said, "I need some time to think about this, and talk to the council. I will come by again later to see you. Is that okay with you?"

"Of course!" Naruko responded cheerily.

Minato looked at Inoichi and said, "Inoichi you are dismissed. And Kakashi, you and Tenzo may leave too. Naruko, I will come over with some lunch later on, and we can talk some things over,"

Minato then smiled at Kushina, saying something softly in her ear, then took her hand and walked out the door.

Naruko stared at the door for a minute, making sure nobody would come back in, then let out a long breath. She slowly laid down on her side, looking out the window at the leaves moving slowly side to side.

As she watched the leaves, she did nothing to stop the tears that ran down her face.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Kakashi stuffed his hands in his pockets and sighed. ' _Why do I have to do this... This girl is so annoying, I can't believe he made me of all people get her…'_ He thought to himself. He rolled his eyes as he thought about Minato-sensei's orders to him

 _Kakashi knocked lightly, then opened the door, "You called, Minato-sensei?"_

 _Minato looked up from shuffling some papers, and smiled at Kakashi._

 _"Yes, thank you for coming! I am a bit busy today so I can't go to get Naruko myself. Would you bring her over?"_

 _Kakashi stared at Minato for a moment, thinking about his last encounter with the girl._

 _"I know that you didn't have a… great first impression of her… but she really didn't mean any harm. She's a very nice girl, I think you might start to like her if you get to know her better" He said, looking up with a smile._

 _"I will go and get her, but I can't promise we'll get along," Kakashi said back to the Hokage._

As he approached the door he heard some yelling from inside Naruko's room. ' _Is someone already in there with her?'_

He walked closer and heard the sound of laughter and shouts from inside. As he approached the door, he stood and listened for a minute.

"Okay, Okay, do I know them?"

"Yes!"

"Are they a ninja?"

"Yes,"

"Are they a man,"

"Yes!"

"Okay… Is he taller than me?"

"Yes, he is!"

"Is he more than 10 years older than me?"

"Uhhhh I think so? Honestly, I'm not sure cause we never see his face,"

"OH! It's Kakashi-sensei!"

"Yeah! You got it right!"

There were cheers from inside.

"He is so totally an old man, He's probably like 45 or something,"

"No way, I bet he's only 25,"

"Old men love reading those perverted books though, especially ones who can't get a girlfriend,"

Kakashi heard laughter, and glared at the door. He then opened the door quickly and said softly, "I'm not that old you know,"

There were 6 Naruko's in the room. And they were all staring at him silently. With those big blue eyes.

He narrowed his eye at them as he saw them whispering to each other.

"Kakashi how old are you?" one of them chirped

"Why?" He responded shortly, still bitter about the things he had overheard them say about him.

"I promise, we won't do anything malicious with it," one of the clones said sweetly.

With a sigh Kakashi answered, "I'm 16 years old,"

He saw an annoyed shuffle of a few of the clones, and heard some triumphant noises from others. With a laugh Naruko dispersed the clones, and was revealed to be the one sitting on the bed. She had her legs crossed, and was leaning gently against a few pillows propping her up. She looked up with an amused glint dancing through her bright blue eyes, and smiled at Kakashi. Kakashi stared into her eyes for a moment more, looking deep into the seemingly endless blue.

Kakashi tore his eyes away from hers, clearing his throat.

"I'm supposed to take you to the Hokage's office," He said in a flat tone.

"Alright, sounds good!" She said brightly, and hopped out of the bed.

Naruko stretched gracefully, and Kakashi eyed her lean figure. He noticed as her shirt was lifted above her belly button, showing off a sliver of her toned abs. He also noticed some strange black lines gracing her tan skin, but the shirt fell too early for him to get a good look at them. He dismissed the thought, and walked out the door. He slowed to allow Naruko to follow, then walked at his normal pace once she had caught up.

On the way to Minato's office, the two walked in silence. About half way to their destination though, Naruko cleared her throat quietly.

"Hey… I'm sorry about how I acted the first time we met," She paused, waiting for an answer. But when she got none, she continued, "Things have been kind of rough for me lately, with the war, and some other stuff. I just assumed the worst,"

Kakashi stared at her, knowing very well what she was talking about.

Kakashi just shrugged, "Yeah I get it, it's fine,"

With those words Naruko grinned wildly, "I'm so glad to hear that!" And with a skip in her step she began to ask more questions about Kakashi. With a small smirk, hidden behind his mask, he answered.

"So what's your name again?" she asked, feigning innocence

"Kakashi Hatake,"

"And you're a ninja right?"

"Yes, a jonin,"

"Wow, that's pretty cool,"

The excited ninja continued to ask the other questions until they got to the Hokage's office.

Naruko walked in confidently, greeting Minato with a smile and an excited hug. This sort of greeting was common with Naruko, and with her mother as she recently learned.

"Naruko I'm glad to see you! I'm sorry that I couldn't come around today, I was just so swamped with paperwork…. But I brought you in here to tell you some good news!"

Naruko practically jumped with excitement, "What's the good news?"

"The council and I have decided to allow you to be an official citizen of Konoha. And you will be allowed to work as a ninja for the village,"

"Oh my gosh, really?" Naruko beamed at Minato and went to hug him, but he started speaking before she could.

"But, they want you to take the chuunin exam first. We are fairly sure that you are of genin level at least, but to be sure we are having you participate,"

Naruko's smile faltered a little, but the news wasn't enough to fully diminish her happiness.

"Luckily for you, there is an exam in a couple weeks. I have taken the liberty of recommending you for the test. So, take this time to get prepared, and blow us away!"

"Thank you so much, you have no idea how much this means to me!" Naruko said with a hug, and squeal of excitement.

She continued smiling for a minute, but then asked a more serious question.

"Where will I live?" She asked tentatively, "I will pay for my own flat once I get some jobs to pay for it… But right now I barely have enough to buy a bowl of ramen…"

"Well, I've been thinking about that a bit. I would have you stay with me, but with the baby it has been a little hectic lately. You would probably be happier if you stayed somewhere else," Minato thought out loud.

"I don't mind, really. I would love to help out around the house and in whatever other way I can. It's the least I can do for all of your kindness," Naruko offered.

Minato nodded, thinking about that option, "That could work out well actually. Alright, if you are really okay with it, you are welcome in my home for the foreseeable future,"

"Yay! This will be so fun!"

Kakashi only rolled his eyes at the two excited blondes, and watched as the girl practically bounced with excitement.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

As Kakashi walked back to his apartment, his thoughts drifted to and from Naruko. She was actually not a bad person… when she wasn't attacking him. He thought back to that day in the hospital, and how her eyes showed a sadness he hadn't seen often. They were the eyes of someone who had lost everything and more. Kakashi felt bad for her. He knew what it was like to lose friends but he could only imagine being ripped from his life as he knew it, and thrusted into a world of strangers. He wondered if she would be alright here. If she would make friends with the other shinobi in the village _. 'I'm sure she'll be fine… She seems charismatic enough… I'm sure everyone will love her… Especially Anko'_ He groaned at the thought of the two of them teaming up to bother him, but when the feeling of hunger hit it tore him away from his thoughts with a low growl from his belly. Without a second thought, he walked towards Ichiraku to get some of the famous ramen.

When he arrived he saw that, as usual, the bar was almost completely filled. Luckily for him, there was one seat open.

Kakashi went to sit down and ordered a plain miso ramen, and waited patiently. He was going to pull out a book to read, but…

"Hey Kakashi, what brings you here?" A light voice said to him.

Without moving his head, Kakashi glanced over to his left. He saw a flash of yellow and a bright smile.

"Hey Naruko," Kakashi drawled, "What are you doing here?"

Naruko looked shocked, "Who wouldn't be here? This is only the best, most amazing, fantastic, place in the whole entire leaf village!"

Kakashi rolled his eyes, and Teuchi chuckled. _'Like father like daughter...'_

"I guess that's why I'm here," Kakashi said sarcastically

Naruko grinned and slurped her ramen happily

As he stared at the soup in front of him, Naruko's earlier comments came to mind.

"Naruko, you said you're from… The future… right?" The words felt strange in his mouth as he said them.

"Ah… Yes I am. Why?" She responded casually

Kakashi stared at her for another moment, "You said Kakashi-sensei earlier, did you know me in the future?"

Naruko grinned, and he saw a glint in her eye he wasn't sure he liked.

"Well you were my sensei, obviously, so you and I did know eachother. You were the leader of my genin squad too. You said we looked like idiots when you first saw us actually… Probably because I set up a prank where a chalk board eraser fell on your head…," She said with a laugh, "But I can tell you about that another time. You actually helped me master my own jutsu when I was older as well, and taught me how to better use my shadow clones. Overall I would say you were a pretty good sensei,"

Kakashi nodded, taking in the information, "I can't believe I was a teacher," He said, almost to himself.

"Yeah me neither," Naruko said bluntly.

Kakashi glared at her.

"Naruko laughed nervously, and scratched the back of her head, "What? You always read your pervy books, and you were late to pretty much anything by at least an hour, and you never seemed to care much about anything,"

"Wh- Hey," Kakashi stuttered, "I'm not a pervert!"

Naruko laughed at his face. Her laugh was light and pretty, and it made Kakashi's face soften a bit

"You weren't as pervy as Jariya-sensei for sure, you just always walked around reading his pervy books," She shrugged, "Anyways,"

Naruko went back to finishing her ramen, then ordering another bowl.

Kakashi looked at his own bowl, thinking about what he had just heard. ' _So I was good enough to teach a bunch of kids huh…'_

He finished his bowl in the quick way that he did, concealing his face almost as fast as he had shown it.

"Thanks for the food!" He heard Naruko say. He thanked Teuchi as well and hopped up from his seat. ' _Maybe I should get to know her better… If Minato likes her she can't be all that bad…'_

* * *

 **A/N: So that's chapter four! I hope you all liked it.**

 **As always please tell me if there is anything you liked, disliked, something I can improve on** , or **if there is anything you would like to see in the story!**

 **Until next time…..**


	5. Chapter 5: The Power of Youth!

**Chapter 5: The Power of Youth!**

* * *

Naruko strolled through the village, noticing some small differences from her time. Her old flat looked… new. She wondered if she could get it at the same low price as when she had it when she lived in it. As she looked around, she took note of places she might want to live. Naruko had never thought of moving to a new place because of how crazy her life had been lately. She just never had time to consider moving, and now that her house was destroyed along with the village… Well technically not anymore. Either way, she had to find an affordable and nice place to live. Preferably near either the training grounds, or the ramen shop. But first she had to have money.

Naruko sighed and slumped her shoulders. She needed to go on missions, but she was still a genin. That is until she passed the chuunin exams! Naruko perked up a little and decided to herself that she would dedicate herself to training so she could pass the chuunin exams. Not that she had any doubt that she wouldn't pass them… She just had nothing better to do.

With that, Naruko walked to the closest training ground to start.

When she got there, she saw a familiar figure in green.

"Bushy brows, is that you?" She asked, surprised evident in her tone

The green clad ninja turned around and yelled loudly, "I DON'T KNOW WHO THIS _"BUSHY BROWS"_ IS, BUT WHOEVER THEY ARE I CHALLENGE THEM TO A BATTLE OF THE YOUTHS. Not only will this test our stamina and strength. But it will test our minds too! Who is my brave challenger!" He declared, his hand raised into the air.

Naruko grinned and stood up straighter, looking the green ninja dead in the eyes, "I am Naruko Uzumaki and I am your challenger!"

"YES! I can see that you possess the strong will of body and spirit! I am Might Guy, and I swear on my life that if I lose I will do 10,000 pushups! But if I win, I will do 20,000 pushups as well! That is the price to pay for success! To get stronger…. that is the ultimate prize. Do you agree to these terms, my new friend Naruko Uzumaki?!"

"Yes I do!" She responded excitedly.

"Alrighty then! Let us begin,"

Guy crouched to his usual taijutsu stance. Knees bent, with one hand stretched in front of the other. In response, Naruko bent her legs and pulled out a kunai knife. She held it in front of her defensively, waiting for him to attack. After a minute of staring at each other, they ran forward ready to spar. Naruko swung her kunai at Guy, and he dodged.

"I do not know how strong you are yet, for I have not fought you before. So, I will not use my full strength on you! I do not want to hurt you!"

Naruko laughed out loud, dodging one of Guy's kicks in the process, "Don't worry about me, I've got a few tricks up my sleeves too,"

She threw a punch at him, which he dodged again, followed by another punch as he came down above her. Naruko leapt out of the way just as guy hit the ground. She looked carefully as the dust cleared, and saw that there was a small crater where Guy's fist had landed, "I thought you were taking it easy?" She chided, with a smirk.

"You said do not take it easy! And judging by the way you dodged my attack you really are a skilled ninja! This is splendid! I have been waiting all day for a worthy opponent to test my skills on!" With a triumphant cheer he leapt at Naruko, much faster than before.

"That's more like it," She said under her breath.

Naruko summoned 4 clones and leapt above Guy, using the smoke as cover to get over him.

"Oh so you're using clones are you? Very good!" Guy shouted from below Naruko. Then one of them kicked guy in the face. Guy was not expecting the clones to be solid, and got kicked back into a tree.

"Shadow clones, eh?" He said, getting up and wiping off his face, "I can take on all four of you at once!"

The clones lunged at him, drawing him out into the open, and into Naruko's kick from the sky.

"What the," Guy said, before using his arms to block her kick at the last minute. She still forced him down to one knee though, and used his arm as leverage to flip away from him, smirking at her success.

"It is like you have fought me before! This is amazing, how can you do this?" Guy shouted at her

"Sorry, I can't tell you that!" Naruko yelled back. _'All those times sparring with Bushy brows and Guy-sensei have totally payed off! Those two are the best to spar with…'_ She thought to herself, ' _This will be perfect for preparing for the chuunin exams!'_

"Well if you insist on keeping this secret from me, I will have to unleash one of my secret techniques!" Guy yelled in determination.

He ran at her again, and she prepared for what she thought would come next.

"LEAF HURRICANE!"

She smirked, ' _I've seen this one a thousand times,'_ and countered it the same way she did every time she fought with Lee

"Again, you know my moves! Have we fought before? I do not think I know you!"

They exchanged more kicks and punches as they continued to spar, "Not that you know of Bushier Brows!"

"Bushier Brows!? Who is the original bushy brows?!"

"I'll tell you another time," Naruko said back with a smirk.

The two continued to fight until they were both worn out and laid on the groung, panting.

"You have… Incredible stamina..." Guy said between breaths

"You too…" Naruko replied.

They both looked up at the sky as the clouds went by slowly.

"Guy, I thought we were supposed to train together today," A cool voice said from behind the two of them. The two ninja looked back to see Kakashi Hatake leaning against a tree, reading a book.

"What kind of book is that?" Naruko said flippantly

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her, "It's called The Tails of a Gutsy Ninja,"

Naruko raised her eyebrows, then smirked, "So that's how you got into that,"

"Got into what?" Kakashi asked

"Oh nothing, nothing," She responded, diverting the subject, "Sorry for taking your sparring partner. I was on my way to train a bit when I saw Guy-se… Guy training alone. I thought it would be a shame to let a good sparring partner go to waste,"

Kakashi rolled his eyes, "It's fine, I'm sure we can train another time,"

"NO! I cannot let a friend of mine down! I will keep my promise, and train with you now! The power of youth brings me strength when I have none, so I will fight you here and now!"

Kakashi looked over at Guy, amused by his antics, "So I guess Naruko wasn't a great sparring partner after all?"

"No way! I was awesome!" Naruko interrupted

"I wasn't talking to you, hot head," Kakashi taunted.

"You were so talking about me!" Naruko defended, shouting at Kakashi

"Yeah and?" Kakashi said, keeping his cool.

Naruko pouted for a second, trying to come up with a comeback.

"That's what I thought," Kakashi said, smiling with his eyes

"Fight me then!" Naruko said enthusiastically.

Kakashi turned around slowly, "You just fought with Guy, it wouldn't be a real fight, you would just lose,"

"I'm totally fine! I'm so full of energy I could run around the village!"

 ** _'You are not full of energy, don't assume I will let you use up my chakra just to prove a point,'_**

 _'Aww common… I wouldn't even take that much just a little bitty bit of…'_

 ** _'Don't patronize me, I know you well kit. You always overdo it and spend way too much chakra, then rely on me to clean up the mess, which I will not do in a silly sparring match with-'_**

 _'Fine, I won't rely on you as much then,'_

 _' **We both know that's not true,'**_

 _'Then I'll start right now, I won't fight Kakashi… this time,'_

The nine-tails huffed and curled up, not amused by her antics.

"So could I! I will run 20 laps around the village!" Guy declared loudly, "Naruko, as my new friend I insist that you join me on my laps around the village!"

"I- No wait," Naruko started

"I guess you have to do that now! How about we spar tomorrow. Same place at 11?"

"Fine, it's a date," Naruko grumbled

"Come now, Naruko! The power of youth compels us!"

"Yeah, I'm coming," Naruko said as she ran after Guy, begrudgingly

' _It's a date…'_ He heard Naruko say again in his head. For some reason, it excited him.

"It's not even a date, were just sparring," He said to himself.

He sighed and pulled out his book, jumping into a tree to read, as he usually did.

When Naruko walked up to the Namikaze household she knocked loudly, and waited for someone to come to the door.

"You can come in, the door is open!" She heard a familiar voice call out

Naruko pushed open the door, and when she walked in she was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable and warm it looked.

"Hello?" she called out

"I'm in the kitchen!" She heard back

Naruko maneuvered herself to the kitchen and saw her mother standing with the baby in one hand and watching over the stove.

"Naru-chan! How are you? It's so nice to see you again! I heard you would be living with us?" Kushina said with a smile,

"For a bit," Naruko said, smiling back and putting her hand behind her head, "Do you need any help Ms. Uzumaki? I can do anything you'd like. I would hate to just stand around doing nothing,"

Naruko quickly made 3 more clones, "Just tell me what to do!"

"Oh honey, you're so sweet, you can just call me mom! I heard the whole story from Mina-chan. I'm just glad you're able to stay with us!"

"Okay… uh.. mom… I would still like to help! Do you want me to cook or clean for you?" Naruko offered

"That would be really great, actually. I have the recipe up by the stove," Kushina said thankfully, "You've grown up to be such a beautiful young woman. I just wish I could've seen you grow up!"

Naruko blushed at her compliments, "I just wish I could've gotten that Uzumaki hair!"

Kushina laughed, and it filled Naruko with warmth, "Naru-chan your hair is so beautiful. Just like your dad's,"

Naruko beamed at Kushina.

"By the way, I was wondering if you could tell me more about our clan? I never really got to know much about it because…" Naruko trailed off, not wanting to talk about it in front of her mother.

"Of course, of course! I would love to tell you. And I could even teach you some fuinjutsu if you'd like too! One of the special things about the Uzumaki clan is that we can all use the same sealing formulas. Whereas other ninja's must start from scratch, we have the benefit of using the seals our elders and clan members created and use them for our own,"

Naruko's eyes widened, "That is so cool! So I could use the same sealing jutsu's that you use no problem?"

Kushina nodded

"That is awesome! You have to teach me!" Naruko insisted

"I can definitely do that. But let me tell you some more about our clan. We were a very old, and powerful clan. We were especially known for our long life spans, incredible stamina, and vitality. We can heal incredibly quickly, and our bodies can take on enormous amounts of strain. This makes us particularly good candidates for being jinchurikis. I was one, and so are you!"

"Wait I thought you died if one of the tailed beasts was extracted from you," Naruko interrupted.

"Well, for most people they do. But Uzumaki's can actually survive the process. Me being a prime example. Also, some members can form their chakra into chains. I can do this, and you might be able to as well. But our clan, because of our power, were feared by other nations. So, in an attempt to lessen the power, they tried to kill off the Uzumaki clan. They almost succeeded, but a whole bunch of us got away and went into hiding," Kushina finished

"That's really sad," Naruko said, "Why would anyone do something like that? It's just so wrong…"

"I know. It's an awful thing they did, but it's okay. I am hoping some day we can rebuild. But for now, I've got to find you some fuinjutsu books! Let me go see if I can find them. Mina-chan just leaves things in the oddest places. I can never find anything…" Kushina said as she walked into another room.

As Kushina left, Naruko sat down in one of the chairs to think about what she had just heard. It was a lot of information to take in at once. ' _I hope I can use those chakra chains! That would be so cool. And fuinjutsu too! I bet that is awesome. I'm so excited!'_ Naruko grinned wildly in her seat, thinking about all the cool stuff her mom could teach her. As she was thinking about that, she heard Minato walk through the door,

"Sorry I'm late, there was so much paperwork to do! It's never ending I swear! Oh, hello Naruko how are you?" Minato said with a smile, hanging up his Hokage cloak in the closet

"I'm awesome! Mom was just telling me all about our clan and I'm just really excited to learn about all of the cool stuff we can do!"

"You know, I can do some pretty cool stuff too," Minato said casually.

"What kind of things?" Naruko said eagerly.

"Well I created this new Jutsu a while back, and it's really cool," Minato said excitedly, "I based it off the jinchuriki bomb, and…"

"Oh you mean this?" Naruko interrupted, calling a clone over to form the rassengan in her hand.

"Wait… What..?" Minato said dejectedly, "How do you know that already?"

"Pervy-sage taught me," Naruko said, matter-of-fact-ly.

"Whose pervy sage?"

"Oh, its Jariyah-sensei,"

Minato's eyes widened, and he started to laugh, "That's so accurate!"

"Yeah, and I combined the change of chakra nature so I completed the jutsu!" She said proudly

"Wait, you completed it? You'll have to show me some time!"

"Dinner's ready!" Naruko's clone called out from the kitchen,

"Yes! I'm so hungry!" Naruko cheered, dancing to where the food was.

Kushina strolled over to where Minato was watching their daughter from the future, dance around the food joyously.

"She's so cute, look at her go," Minato said to Kushina

"You're such a sucker," Kushina said playfully, "Let's go eat some dinner now,"

Naruko couldn't sleep. She had stared at the ceiling for an hour, waiting to get tired, but she was feeling too restless. She got up, put on her clothes, and went out the window quietly. As she walked around Konoha silently, she observed the nightlife with mild interest. There were a few drunks stumbling around loudly, and there was music coming from a few of the bars open late. Without thinking, she wandered through the town until she got to the memorial stone. When she realized she was there, she stared blankly at it for a minute, not moving a muscle. Finally, she sat down in front of it, tracing her fingers over the names she knew, and staring at the blank spaces she knew to be filled in her time. She felt a strange melancholy feeling come over her, so she got up and briskly walked away. Feeling tears coming on, she ran faster. Barely touching the tops of the rooftops she ran, on she sprinted to the top of Hokage mountain. As she ran she felt the cold wind whipping away the warm tears falling from her eyes. Angrily she wiped them away, not wanting anyone to see her tears. When she got to the top she was panting, tears still spewing from her eyes.

"Why am I crying, nothing even happened to me," She whispered angrily to herself, "I'm not even alone. I have my parents, and Jiji is alive, none of my friends have died,"

She sat down clumsily and folded her knees into her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs.

"It's not like they're even my real parents…and my friends aren't even born yet…" She continued, speaking to the silence around her, "The people here aren't the same people I know, I'm 16 years older than I was, and they're not my friends or family. Why would they care about some stranger who appears out of nowhere," She mumbled through tears, "They'll know who I am soon enough. They'll see the nine-tails and hate me, just like before…"

She squeezed her eyes closed, willing the pain to stop.

"Damn it," Naruko groaned, feeling the familiar warm feeling rolling down her face again, "Just when everything was going well for me this … _thing_ … had to happen to me. This stupid time travel, this stupid life, this stupid… me," She trailed off.

Naruko gazed at the stars in silence, alone on top of the mountain.

The freezing wind was making Naruko shiver, but she didn't move. Despite the frigid weather, she just couldn't bring herself to move a muscle. All she wanted to do was stay on the top of that mountain and stare at the stars.

"If I was stronger this wouldn't have happened. If I had just… everyone worked so hard to protect me and I couldn't even do the same for…"

"Naruko, don't talk like that…"

Naruko closed her eyes, taking a staggering breath, "Go away…" She said softly. The determination in her voice was gone.

Naruko listened silently as the light footsteps of a ninja approached her. As she opened her eyes she saw a gentle smile, framed by yellow hair, looking down at her.

He sat down next to her, and helped her up. He wrapped a blanket around her shivering figure, and turned towards her with a sad smile.

"I'm so sorry you have to go through this…" He started, talking slowly, "I know how hard it must be for you… but I promise it will be okay,"

Minato's heart broke as he saw his daughter look up at him with broken eyes. His own blue eyes stared back at him, with tears still in them.

Minato let out a sad sigh, "I can't say that I have gone through anything like what you are going through now, but I just want you to know," Minato paused for a second, thinking of the best way to say what he wanted, "That I will always be here for you. I won't leave you again, and that's a promise,"

Minato watched as Naruko let out a shaky breath, and whispered, "thank you,"

She leaned into his chest as more silent tears came cascading down her cheeks again. Minato watched over her in silence, rubbing circles into her back. He continued this until her tears turned into hiccups, and her hiccups turned into sleep. Carefully, he picked her up and transported the both of them back to his house. He laid her carefully back onto the couch that she slept on, and laid another blanket on her. He watched her carefully, thinking about the hardships she had gone through in life. With a soft sigh, he left her to sleep and walked quietly back to his room. Just as he had gotten himself settled next to Kushina for the night though, he heard the cry of his baby.

"I'll get that, you go back to sleep," He whispered to Kushina, who nodded sleepily.

As he rocked his baby to sleep, he wished that soothing Naruko's sadness would be that easy.

* * *

 **A/N: Too much? Don't worry, hopefully there won't be too many sad scenes because I don't want it to be just about Naruko's sad stuff. I've always felt that Naruko was a very resilient character so she'll make friends soon. I promise!**

 **As always, I love anything you may have to say about the story. I try to be very open minded about criticism so if you see something that needs to be fixed please tell me! Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6: Flu Season

**Chapter 6: Flu season**

 **A/N: I am SO SORRY for the late chapter. My boyfriend was visiting and I just wanted to spend all my time with him. BUT now I'm officially alone again and back to my usual sort of thing… I've been doing a lot of brainstorming with how I want this story to go so hopefully you guys like it!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _ACHOO_

Naruko covered her nose with her elbow and groaned. ' _When do I ever get sick…'_

 _' **Maybe when you go out in the middle of the night, during winter might I add, when there is a flu going around the village…'**_

 _'Ahh Kyu you worry too much… I'll be fine I'm- ACHOO'_

 _' **This is precisely why I worry…'** The nine tails murmured to himself as he tucked his nose into his paws._

"Naruko I heard you sneezing are you alright?" Minato asked worriedly, already dressed in his hokage robes.

"Yeah, I think I caught something though…" She said sheepishly, coughing into her arm

"Hmmm," Minato agreed. He felt her forehead and furrowed his brow, "I'll take you to the hospital, there's been a nasty flu going around the village and maybe they can give you something to make you feel better…"

Naruko grinned and laughed, but that only put her into a fit of coughing, "That would be awesome! I never get sick, this is so weird for me,"

"Kushina doesn't get sick either. Unless she's had a particularly hard mission and is very tired and stressed. So maybe a combination of everything that's happened just threw your body out of whack?"

Naruko nodded in agreement.

"Why don't we head over now? I'm on my way into work now so I can just take you there," Minato offered

"That would be great, thank you!" Naruko said, smiling brightly, "Let me get dressed real quick and then we can get going,"

Naruko went to the bathroom and threw on a lose tank top and pants she had gotten from Kushina. She then did her hair in a quick braid, brushed her teeth, and met Minato outside.

"Did you get something to eat?" Minato asked, concerned for his sick daughter.

"No… I'm not feeling very hungry to be honest," Naruko said, rubbing her stomach. To tell the truth, if Naruko ate a single bite she felt like she would throw it back up. ' _yup… definitely sick…'_ She thought to herself.

As they walked Minato told her about the paperwork he had to do, and some of the current events in Konoha, but Naruko's mind was wondering.

Maybe it was a result of her sickness but she just couldn't focus on anything for very long. She was too tired and ended up just walking with a blank mind after a bit.

"Naruko, are you feeling okay?" She heard Minato ask quietly, laying a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and nodded slowly.

"I'm just a little tired, that's all. I'll be fine,"

Minato nodded and smiled gently at her.

When they arrived at the hospital Naruko sat down in a chair as Minato talked to the receptionist.

Naruko stared at a corner for a while, letting her thoughts come and go. She was pulled out of her musings though when she heard someone say, "What are you doing here?"

She blinked slowly and refocused her eyes onto the person standing beside her.

Kakashi Hatake.

He stood tall above Naruko, looking at her with his eyebrow high.

"Oh, hi," She responded to him.

Kakashi rolled his one eye, and asked again, "What are you doing here?"

Naruko coughed a bit, then said, "Minato thinks I have the flu,"

Kakashi nodded, "It's been going around"

"It's a good thing you use that face mask of yours or you'd probably be sick too,"

"That's pretty much the only reason I wear it," Kakashi said sarcastically, "So I guess our little sparring match is off for today?"

"What? No way I'm fine!" Naruko said indignantly, and stood up quickly. But she quickly grabbed her head and closed her eyes tightly, groaning in pain

"Ah, jeez, take it easy there," Kakashi said in surprise, as she leaned into him. He held on to her tentatively, as if she would explode at any second.

Minato turned around at the commotion, and smiled at Kakashi when he saw him.

"Kakashi! I didn't expect to see you here," He said jovially, eyeing the two ninja standing together, "It's great that you came! I need to get to work, would you mind helping Naruko out? She's a bit sick and Kushina is with the baby…" He trailed off. He knew Kakashi would agree.

Minato had a suspicion that Kakashi and Naruko would get along well. He would just have to push the two of them together. Kakashi and (if Naruko was anything like Kushina) Naruko were both so hard headed he doubted that they would ever hit it off if he didn't do something about it. Kushina's words rang in his head from last week,

 _'Mina-chan you're so funny. I don't know why you have so much fun playing matchmaker. You really think Asuma and Kurenai would go well together?'_

 _'Yes,' he said with an exasperated sigh, 'Can't you see it? They would be the cutest couple,'_

 _'What about us?' Kusina asked slyly_

 _'Well with the cutest kunoichi in Konoha, how could we not be the cutest couple?'_

 _Kushina laughed cheerfully at Minato's flirting, and leaned in to kiss him._

"I guess," Kakashi said, "Why are you blushing sensei"

"What? Oh it's nothing really… Naruko here's some money to go get anything you need. If you need soup, or cough drops, or anything, I just want you to feel better!" Minato said lovingly, being the overly protective father that he was.

"Jeez sensei, I didn't know you turned to mush every time your kid was in front of you," Kakashi teased

Minato just smiled at Kakashi, "You'll understand some day. I'll stop by sometime later to check on you. Take this Kunai with you alright?" Minato handed her one of his transportation kunai, and headed out the door to fulfill his Hokage duties.

"Miss Uzumaki?" a nurse said a nurse called out. The two walked over to where the nurse was and she asked, "Are you with her?"

"Yes," He said shortly

The nurse nodded and motioned for the two to follow her

As Naruko sat on the bed, the nurse took her temperature, and stuck a tongue depressor in her mouth.

"Say ah,"

Naruko said ' _ah'_ and frowned at the nurse who was writing some notes down on the paper.

"I'll have to swab the back of your throat to get a sample of whatever you have. Just to make sure you do have the flu," The nurse said in an even tone

"You have to wh- "

The nurse stuck the swab in the back of Naruko's mouth, making her gag.

"What the hell was that?" Naruko yelled

"I'll be right back,"

And with that the nurse left.

"What do those nurses think they're doing, are they even allowed to do that?" Naruko mumbled to herself.

Kakashi sighed, and leaned against the wall. He pulled out his book and began to read.

About ten minutes later, the nurse came back into the room, "It looks like you do have the flu. Here's some medicine to take, it'll help with the symptoms. Enjoy the rest of your day," The nurse said tiredly.

Naruko groaned and started to get off the bed,

"Here let me help you, you'll probably fall if you try to get off yourself," Kakashi said bluntly.

"Thanks," She murmured, "So how much of this junk do I take," she asked, staring at the back of the bottle, "Might as well drink the whole bottle. It's not like it'll even work," She said to herself.

"Why wouldn't it work?" Kakashi asked, following her out of the room.

"Ah well I have a fast metabolism, and on top of that Kurama doesn't let me get intoxicated. Even pain medications usually have to be really strong to work, ya know?"

"I guess that makes sense," Kakashi said, though it didn't really make sense to him. How could a tailed beast control how drunk you got?

"You're not actually going to drink the whole bottle though, right?"

Naruko laughed, making her cough, and then said, "No. I'll just take the recommended amount and see if it'll help,"

She looked down for a second, then stared up at Kakashi, "Thanks for walking me home,"

Kakashi just nodded, "Well you almost fell over when you stood up earlier. I can't just let you pass out in the middle of the road,"

"Hey, I didn't fall over earlier!" Naruko contended

"You could barely stand up straight" Kakashi retorted

Naruko glared at him and said, "I am perfectly fine, I could even fight you right now!"

Kakashi raised his eyebrow at her, and stuffed his hands into his pockets, "You can't beat me when you were at your best. What makes you think you could beat me when you're sick?"

"You don't even know that yet!" Naruko retorted

"Well what rank were you in your time?" Kakashi asked smugly

"I uh…. Genin…" Naruko said under her breath

Kakashi's eye widened, "A genin?" Kakashi burst out laughing, "You know I'm a jonin right?"

"Okay but here's the thing, I was on this long training trip with Jiriaya-sensei, and then I had to learn to use sage mode at Mount Miyobuki, and then the Akatsuki attacked the village and destroyed it, and then there was the fourth great shinobi war and I guess stuff just got out of hand and I never got the chance to take the exam!" Naruko rambled

Kakashi stared at her for a moment, then said, "You're still genin,"

Naruko glared at Kakashi, making him laugh again, "Okay fine we'll fight right now if you really want to,"

' _Naruko can't be that good if they've kept her at genin level this whole time.'_ Kakashi thought to himself, ' _Wouldn't they at least promote her if she's really that good? She's probably boasting,'_ Kakashi smiled. He was about to show her who the best really is.

The sound of Naruko coughing brought him out of his thoughts, ' _Maybe this isn't the best idea right now though… Minato will kill me if he finds out we sparred while she was sick… And Kushina…'_

Kakashi shivered at the thought of facing Kushina's wrath

He heard Naruko say something quietly about her head hurting, and he looked over at her.

Her face looked pale and a little sweaty, and she looked as if someone had put her in a freezer. She had bags under her eyes, and kept coughing and sneezing.

"Uh Naruko, maybe we should just head home," Kakashi offered tentatively

"What? I'm ready to go though! I'm all psyched for this, I can go up against you; I'm not weak!" Naruko protested loudly

"You just look really sick," Kakashi tried again,

"Look, I'm 100%" Naruko said with a grin, and ran around Kakashi quickly, "See?"

Kakashi watched her jog, "Okay if you really feel up to it,"

Naruko nodded excitedly, ready to fight. But as she stopped in front of Kakashi, her knees gave out and she felt herself slip into unconsciousness.

Kakashi lunged forward to catch her as soon as he saw her eyes roll back.

He then sighed and shook his head, "You almost had me there Naruko,"

Kakashi held her bridal style, then leapt across the roofs of Konoha to get to the Namikaze house as quickly as he could.

Kakashi knocked on the door, and heard Kushina yell "Come in," from inside the house.

He opened the door, and pushed it open with his hips walking into the warm house. He hadn't been to his sensei's house many times, but it didn't look like it had changed since he had last been there.

"Naru-chan is that you?" Kushina called out

"Ah, no it's Kakashi. But I have Naruko with me here. She passed out on our way back from the hospital,"

Kushina rushed into the room to come see Naruko and Kakashi. She put her hand on Naruko's forehead to feel her temperature, and said, "Poor thing, and after last night too. Why don't you bring her over here, she's been sleeping on the couch,"

' _What happened last night… She seemed fine to me…'_

"The couch is actually super comfortable, Minato and I have fallen asleep on here before," She said reassuringly, making sure Kakashi knew, "Thank you so much for taking care of her, would you like to stay for a bit?"

"Sure, that would be great," Kakashi said with a smile

Kakashi sat down on the end of the couch next to Naruko's feet. ' _She's not very tall… she doesn't even take up the whole couch…'_ Kakashi thought to himself, ' _She's kinda cute all bundled up in those blankets…'_

Naruko had subconsciously bundled the blankets around her and had pulled them up to her nose. Her cheeks were lightly flushed from the fever, and her face was still a little pale, but overall she looked better from the rest she was getting. He watched her for a bit as Kushina started making some tea.

"Ung…My head is killing me"

Kakashi looked over at Naruko who had pulled the sheets over her head, in an effort to lessen her headache.

"You feeling better?" Kakashi asked

"Hmmm?" Naruko said, bringing the sheets back down to her nose, eying the man next to her feet, "What're you doin here," She said sleepily

Kakashi raised his eyebrow at her, "I only carried you home after you passed out in the middle of the street… But that doesn't matter. I guess I'll just leave," He said melodramatically.

"No… that's fine you can stay here…" she said lazily.

Naruko sat up slowly, still wrapped up in her blanket. She moved next to Kakashi and pulled her legs up to her chest, "Are you cold?" She asked, shivering a bit.

"No… it must be your fever," Kakashi said slowly, "Here let me help you…" He mumbled, reaching over to pull the blankets closer around Naruko. She hummed softly and leaned into Kakashi before he could bring his arm back to his side.

"I… Uh…" Kakashi stammered in surprise

"You're so warm… And I'm so cold… I'm gonna go back to sleep now…" Naruko said.

' _What are you doing… I didn't say you could do this'_

Kakashi sat stiffly, not sure what to do with his arm, so he put it behind his head and watched nervously as she fell into his lap. She was fast asleep again, with a small smile on her face.

"Oh, am I interrupting something?" Kushina said softly, eyeing the sleeping girl on Kakashi's lap.

"No! She just… ah... woke up and said she was cold and I was warm, so she fell asleep on me… I swear it's… not what it looks like…" Kakashi said nervously, a blush spreading across his masked face. Not that anyone could see it.

Kushina just laughed at him, and handed him a cup of tea, "I'm just kidding, feel free to just relax for a while. I'll be around!"

Kakashi nodded furiously, his hands still behind his head. It was a few minutes until Kakashi relaxed again. He let one of his hands fall to his side and the other drape the couch above Naruko. He watched her breathe lightly and smiled at how peaceful she looked. ' _This is so creepy… I can't just watch somebody sleep…'_ So he looked up at the ceiling, the walls, anything but Naruko. Eventually Kakashi leaned his head back and rested it against the back of the couch and closed his eyes.

 _"Kakaaaaashiiiiiii,"_

 _Kakashi turned around to see Naruko running towards him_

 _"Naruko,"_

 _"Kakashi I've been looking for you," She said, running up to meet him._

 _He watched her look down at the ground and blush. She then stepped forward, inches from his chest, and looked up at him,_

 _"Kakashi… I wanted to give you something," Naruko said flirtingly. She looked at him with wide eyes._

 _"Oh yeah? What's that," Kakashi said slowly, smiling slyly under his mask._

 _"It was…_

Kakashi opened his eyes, and took a deep breath. ' _What was that dream about'_ He wondered aimlessly. He looked down to see his fingers interwoven through Naruko's hair… ' _I never thought somebody's hair could be so soft…'_ He ran his fingers through her hair, removing any remnants of her braid from earlier that day. He watched as the strands of hair fell out of his hand and pooled around her face, covering half of her face. Slowly, he moved his hand back to her forehead to push back the strands blocking her face. As his fingers graced her forehead, he noticed how it was still warm. ' _I hope I don't get this flu… it seems miserable'_ He thought to himself. As if triggered by his thoughts of being infected, Naruko coughed in her sleep. Kakashi eyed her warily, but didn't move her off of his lap. He continued to run his hand through her hair mindlessly, getting more comfortable with her on his lap. Kakashi looked at Naruko, but his mind stayed preoccupied with other thoughts. He was really enjoying himself right now.

Kushina sat in the kitchen smiling from ear to ear. ' _Minato was so right! Ah those two… But she doesn't even know what he's doing… I have to see her face when she wakes up…'_ Kushina gushed in her mind. She ran quickly to the doorway connecting the living room to the kitchen and peered through it. She saw Kakashi just sitting there…. RUNNING HIS _HANDS_ THROUGH HER HAIR? _'OH MY GOSH… I have to tell Mina-chan!'_

Kushina composed herself, then walked slowly into the room, knocking lightly on the door way to let him know she was there.

"Hey Kakashi, I need to go get some groceries for dinner, do you mind holding down the fort while I'm gone?" Kushina asked sweetly.

"I guess I…" Kakashi stared

"Great! See you in a bit!" Kushina said, without letting Kakashi end his sentence, and rushed out the door to go visit the Hokage, her husband.

"Hokage-sama, your wife is here to see you," Minato heard someone call from outside

"Tell her I will be right down!" He called back. His paper work could wait for lunch. He walked outside to see his wife grinning at him excitedly.

"Minato lets go get some ramen," Kushina said

"Okay… What's the special occasion?" Minato asked

"I'll tell you when we get there,"

When the two got to Ichiraku's, they sat down and ordered their respective bowls, then Minato spoke up.

"Okay so what is it? I'm dying to know what surprises you have in store for me," Minato said with a subtle smile

"So, while Naruko and Kakashi were walking back from the hospital, Naruko apparently passed out and Kakashi carried her home," Kushina started

"Is she okay? What happened?" Minato asked concernedly

"She's fine, I think it must be the combination of lack of sleep and sickness. Kakashi didn't even let her hit the ground so I think she is fine. But when they got back to the house I told Kakashi he could stay for a while since he was already over. And when I came back with tea guess what I found,"

Minato smiled shrewdly, "What did you find,"

"Naruko sleeping happily on Kakashi's lap! The poor thing looked so nervous but it was cute. And a little while later he was running his hand through her hair and I just had to tell you," Kushina said excitedly

"I told you," Minato said in a teasing voice

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Kushina said with a smile

"You came all the way here to tell me that? You could've told me tonight," Minato asked skeptically

"Well I also wanted a chance to see you away from the kid. Just you, me, and some ramen," Kushina said sweetly

"You two are my favorite couple, I hope you know that!" Teuchi said fondly, "Plus nobody comes more often, I hope you know that!"

The two smiled graciously at him, and finished their ramen together.

Kakashi was diverted from his thoughts by a yawn coming from Naruko. She opened her eyes lazily and looked up at Kakashi.

"Hey… What are you doing above me?" Naruko asked, her mind still clouded with her long nap. ' _Man, I haven't slept this well in ages… Wait… Am I on Kakashi's lap… Did I SLEEP on KAKASHI'S lap? What the!'_

"Is something wrong?" Kakashi asked, sounding a bit nervous. Was that even possible?

"No… I was just wondering… Did I fall asleep on your lap or something? What happened?"

Kakashi laughed a little bit and looked up for a split second, "It's a funny story. After you challenged me to a spar you worked yourself up too much I guess and you just passed out. I brought you back here and put you on the couch to sleep. Kushina said I could stay for a bit so I sat on the end of the couch you weren't on. Then, you randomly sat up and proclaimed that you were cold and I was warm. So, you slept on me. It's been a few hours, but it's fine. I didn't mind,"

Naruko nodded slowly, scrunching up her face in thought. "I don't remember that at all," She stated in a disentranced manner, "Oh well," she then said with a slight shrug, "I'm starving, do you want something to eat?"

"Not if you're making it," Kakashi said frankly

"What's wrong with the food I make?" She shot back defiantly.

"Nothing. You're sick. I'll make you something, just stay here. What do you want?" Kakashi said brusquely

"Hmmmmm," Naruko said, drawing out the mm sound, "I would like soup,"

Kakashi nodded and headed into the kitchen to see if they had any soup around. He could make her some If he was at home, but felt rude trying to cook in someone else's kitchen. Besides, she probably didn't like eggplant. Kakashi opened the fridge and saw a medium sized covered bowl of soup. On top was a note stating, _'For Naruko if she gets hungry 3 Kushina'_

Kakashi smiled at the thought, ' _That was very nice of her…'_ Kakashi went to find a smaller bowl to put some of the soup in for Naruko to eat while he heated up the soup.

"What're you making me," Naruko said, suddenly behind Kakashi with her head by his shoulder

Kakashi, who was caught off guard, whipped around, and smacked Naruko in the face with his elbow. He widened his eye just as he felt his elbow contact her, and started apologizing profusely.

"Ow!" Naruko said, also startled by his sudden movement, "I thought you were a ninja, why did you get so surprised by that? And I'm sick why would you try to incapacitate me more than I already am?" Naruko whined to Kakashi

"I thought you were sick! I didn't expect you to be so quiet with a blanket wrapped around you," Kakashi said defensively. He looked at Naruko, her figure obscured by the thick blanket she had been sleeping in earlier. He couldn't even see her feet, and yet she still managed to be quiet enough to sneak up on him.

"It's freezing in here. I can't take off this blanket! Do you want me to die of hypothermia?" Naruko complained loudly, stopping to cough, "Are you covered in whale blubber or something? Because I don't know how you could be surviving this cold any other way,"

Kakashi crossed his arms, "I'm not fat,"

"I didn't say you were,"

"Well you're accusing me of having whale blubber on me," Kakashi accused

"You're right. If you had whale blubber on you it wouldn't have hurt so badly when you attacked my face!"

"Nice comeback loser. You shouldn't have snuck up on me in the first place,"

"I'm wearing a blanket!" Naruko retorted, coughing more as she got worked up, "I wasn't even trying to be quiet, you're just a bad ninja,"

From the yelling she had done in arguing with Kakashi, she started having a coughing fit. Barely able to breathe through it, she started turning red in the face.

"Look what you did!" Naruko rasped, still coughing, "I'm going to sit down,"

Kakashi watched Naruko sulk back to the couch, rolling herself into a ball with the blanket on the couch. He felt guilty for hitting her in the face. And making her cough so much. And working her up.

Kakashi sighed and stirred the soup. When the soup was evenly heated, he poured himself and Naruko a cup. There was more than enough to last her a few days, so he figured it was okay to have some of it. Kakashi then placed the two cups on the kitchen table, and walked over to where Naruko was sitting.

"I'm sorry," Kakashi said softly

Naruko turned her head, still pouting

"I'm sorry for hitting you in the face, and making you cough so much. It's… totally my fault and I should've been more aware. Will you come eat with me?"

Naruko blinked at him, pursing her lips, "I guess,"

Kakashi gave her a smile with his eyes and gestured for her to follow him to the table, "After you,"

Naruko rolled off the couch, onto the floor, then slowly got up with a groan. With the blanket still wrapped around her, she made her way to the table. Slowly. She finally sat down, and put her hands together, saying thank you, and then lifted the bowl to drink her soup.

"Mmmmm this is so good; did you make this?" Naruko asked Kakashi

"I wish I had these cooking skills, but no. It was Kushina who made it,"

Naruko just nodded, and finished her bowl. She didn't pay attention to Kakashi much, who finished his bowl quickly while she wasn't looking at him. The two sat in silence for almost 10 minutes before Kakashi broke the silence.

"Are you feeling better?" He asked, "You slept for a long time,"

Naruko just shrugged, "I'm feeling a little better I guess. I'm hoping my fast healing will get rid of this damn bug by tomorrow so I can train again,"

"What for," Kakashi inquired, "You snuck up on me pretty well, I doubt you are in desperate need of training right now,"

"The chuunin exams," Naruko said in a melancholy way, "I've only taken them once, and I was twelve. I had made it to the finals and because of an attack on Konoha the exam was postponed and never finished. After that I never got the chance to take them again,"

"I'm sure you'll do fine then. If you did as well as you said when you were twelve,"

Naruko just sighed, "I don't know, I guess it'll be fun to prove myself and all… Don't get me wrong I love showing off," She said with a big smile, but then frowned again, "But the last time I took it was with all my friends, and that was when my best friend Sasuke abandoned the leaf village for… The Akatuski I guess I'll say," Naruko sighed again, "Plus I feel like I'm above chuunin level at this point. I can control my nine tails chakra, and I can use sage mode. Wouldn't that be cheating a little?"

"You use sage mode?" Kakashi asked, his interest piqued

"Yeah, I learned it on Mount Myoboku with the toad sage," Naruko said nonchalantly

"You trained under Jiriaya-sensei then?" Kakashi guessed

"I… did," she said quietly. Naruko stared at the floor for a bit. Kakashi, who sensed her unease, stayed quiet for the time being.

Suddenly Naruko stood up, without the blanket, stated she would be right back, and walked briskly towards the bathroom. She closed the door quickly and it was silent for a moment, but then Kakashi heard a gagging sound coming from the bathroom.

"Naruko…?" Kakashi called out,

He then heard the unmistakable sound of somebody throwing up.

Kakashi raced to the bathroom, knocking loudly on the door and calling out to Naruko. All he heard in response was heaving breathing, so he opened the door and knelt next to Naruko. Her forehead was beaded with sweat and her eyes were teary. Her hands clutched the edge of the toilet as she looked at him wearily, but immediately turned back to throw up the rest of her lunch.

Kakashi looked at her with sympathy but could only rub her back as tears spilled from her closed eyes. Finally, when she was done, she leaned against Kakashi's chest. She was still breathing heavily, and Kakashi held her carefully. He wasn't quite sure what to do, so he tentatively put his hand in her hair, as he had done earlier, and ran his hand through it. She seemed to relax a little when he did it so he continued. After a minute when she seemed calmer she murmured something about being sorry.

"It's okay, let me help you out," he said softly. Kakashi her stand up, but she just sat on the edge of the bath tub.

"Could you pass me my toothbrush," Naruko said quietly. Kakashi nodded, and after putting some toothpaste on it, gave her the toothbrush.

"Thanks," She said quietly again, with a small smile

Kakashi just nodded, and stood next to her awkwardly for a minute before saying, "I'll be in the living room. I'll get you some water,"

Naruko nodded, and smiled at him.

After a few more minutes Naruko walked out of the bathroom, looking a little bit better.

"Sorry about that…" She said quietly, looking anywhere but at Kakashi's face

"Don't worry about it. I got you a glass of water, you should come sit down,"

Naruko nodded, and shuffled over to where she left her blanket, and wrapped herself back up in it. She sipped the water silently, letting the cool water slowly run down her coarse throat.

"You don't have to stay if you don't want to," Naruko offered Kakashi. She felt bad that he had to stay and take care of her.

"it's okay. I wouldn't want to leave you here all alone if you're not feeling well," Kakashi reassured her.

Naruko blushed a little, but hoped that it would just pass as her flushed cheeks. She looked up at Kakashi with tired eyes, "Would you mind if I… Slept on your lap again?" She asked hesitatingly

Kakashi's eye widened at her request. He didn't think his legs were as comfortable as her pillow… but he didn't mind it, "No not at all, whatever makes you feel better,"

Naruko smiled brightly at him, and he thought he saw a slight blush. That was probably her sickness though. "You look pretty tired. Did you want to take another nap?" He asked.

Naruko nodded and smiled sweetly at him again, "Thank you so much for being so kind to me,"

' _Kind?'_ Kakashi thought to himself. 'Kakashi' and 'Kind' didn't often come up in the same sentence. He laughed in his head, then got up to sit on the couch. Naruko followed close behind, and made herself comfortable on the couch. She smiled up at him and thanked him again, then closed her eyes to go to sleep. Kakashi watched her as her breathing slowed, and became regular. Kakashi made himself comfortable, pulled out a book, and started to read with Naruko napping happily on his lap.

 **A/N: OKAY so I know I'm totally dramatic, but I was like Kakashi would be SO AWKWARD if Naruko just slept on him. And I just picture them having a relationship sort of like Sasuke's but… obviously different… or is it…**

 **I hope you all enjoyed the story though and I am so sorry it took so long to get this out! I should be writing the next chapter soon. I will definitely start it tomorrow so just hang tight.**

 **Thank you for reading and please leave any comments down below!**


	7. Chapter 7: Exam Time

**Chapter 7: Exam time**

 **A/N: It's the moment you have all been waiting for! Or at least what I've been excited to write… I've just had this idea of Naruko taking the chuunin exam in my head for so long. Like yo I'm 16 years old, I've defeated the akatuski, and become a hero, and I'm also taking the exam with a bunch of legitimate genin.**

 **But anyways… Enjoy!**

 **edit-Sorry this is just a small update—next chapter is coming soon though!**

After 2 days of being sick, Naruko was finally feeling well enough to train again.

' _Thank goodness for fast healing…'_ Naruko thought to herself. She got up at around the same time as Minato and Kushina, and ate breakfast with them. She watched amusedly as Minato made silly faces at her baby double. ' _To think the great fourth Hokage was reduced to this when his baby was around…'_ Naruko thought happily.

"So, I heard you're feeling better Naru," Minato said lightly, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"Yes, I am! Much better actually. Occasionally, Kurama actually comes in handy," Naruko said sarcastically.

 ** _'I'll keep that in mind next time you need my help,'_** The Kyuubi said threateningly to Naruko

Naruko just rolled her eyes at him, and smiled at Minato

"If you would like I can send you on some D or C rank missions to help you make some money. They may not be terribly challenging, but they will give you something to do besides train all day," Minato offered

"That would be awesome!" Naruko said with a cheer, "But are you sure you don't still need any help around the house?" Naruko asked Kushina.

"No, I'm fine! I can always get Minato to come help me," She said, teasing her husband.

"You know I've got responsibilities," Minato chided lightly.

"Yeah I know you do. Your responsibility is tending to your lovely wife, son, and daughter, of course,"

Naruko laughed at Kushina and Minato's banter. She loved how playful they were with each other. Their relationship was the kind that she wanted to have when she got a boyfriend.

"Alright, I've got to go get Naru some missions! Bye Kushina, and Naruko" Minato said, leaning forward to give Kushina and Naruko a kiss, "Let's go Naru,"

Naruko nodded, and smiled at the nickname Minato had given her.

When they got to Hokage tower, Minato walked her to the missions desk, and told her good luck, and then left.

Naruko walked forward confidently and said, "My name is Naruko Uzumaki, and I would like a mission,"

The shinobi at the counter didn't even look up at her loud voice.

"Uzumaki… Alright it says you are cleared for C-rank missions. Here is an escort mission. There is an old merchant who needs to get back to the land of Frost. There shouldn't be any rogue ninja after him, as he isn't in any bingo books, so this will be a solo mission for you. Unless there is someone else you would like to bring along?" The ninja said, looking up at Naruko after he finished talking.

"No I should be fine! When should I meet the merchant?"

"He is going to be here at noon. That should give you enough time to pack, and whatever else you need to do. This mission should take about a week, there and back,"

Naruko nodded, and gave him a thumb up and a smile, then left to start packing.

As Naruko walked back, she thought about how cold the land of frost was. Just thinking about it made her shiver. She thought about the warm, fluffy coat she used to have, becoming sad that she would never get to wear it again. Naruko had gone out to buy some more clothes for herself earlier that week, since she only had the ones she was wearing when she arrived in Konoha. No matter how hard she looked though, she couldn't find ANY orange shirts. She did find a similar pair of dull orange pants, but they only had one pair. Other than that, she had more of the standard shinobi gear. Naruko sighed and stared down at her boring black shirt. She wished that Konoha would have a better fashion sense, but she supposed that it wasn't very stealthy to wear bright orange on missions anyways.

 **-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-**

With Naruko gone, Kakashi found himself a little lonely. The blond kunoichi had been in his life for a week, and he was hooked.

' _What did I do before I met Naruko…'_ Kakshi thought to himself, ' _I guess… I took missions… I trained… I read alone in trees… I guess I spent a lot of time by myself… Maybe I should branch out more…'_

Kakashi looked around and thought about who he might talk to.

' _I'll just walk around until I see somebody…'_ Kakashi decided.

With that goal in mind, Kakashi strolled through the busy village, glancing at the different shops lining the streets.

As he strolled through the village, he saw Asuma standing in front of the flower shop looking at the many flowers on display.

"Hey Asuma," Kakashi said lightly to him.

"Oh, Hey Kakashi. I haven't seen you for a while, what's up?" Asuma said, grinning slightly at his former classmates sudden appearance.

Kakashi shrugged, "Nothing really, I just thought I might say hello to you. We haven't really talked in a while,"

Asuma nodded at the silver headed ninja. It seemed a bit strange that Kakashi was talking to him so randomly, but he liked the guy well enough, "Well are you busy right now? I have been wanting to try out the new barbeque place in the village but I haven't had the chance to try it out with anyone yet,"

Kakashi nodded, "Yeah sure, sounds good to me,"

The two started walking towards the barbeque place Asuma had mentioned, and walked in silence for a bit.

"So, why were you at the flower shop?" Kakashi asked offhandedly

"Umm no reason really, I was just getting flowers for my mom," Asuma said quickly

Kakashi raised his eyebrow at him, "So not for a girl you like?" He said skeptically

Asuma grinned wickedly at Kakashi, "Rumor has it you've got a special someone too Kakashi, so don't go throwing shade. I've heard it's the new girl in town, a real looker. Her name is… Karu?"

Kakashi looked at Asuma with blank eyes as they walked into the barbeque restaurant, "Are you talking about Naruko,"

"Yeah that's the one!" Asuma said with a newfound confidence, "You must be hanging out with her a lot if the great Kakashi Hatake bothered to learn her name. She must be something else if you're actually spending time with her,"

Asuma looked at the Hostess quickly and told her it was just the two of them.

Kakashi looked at Asuma as they were being seated, trying figure out what to say that wouldn't give the impression that he liked her.

"She's nice. She is also very loud, and impulsive. She is actually a lot like Kushina," Kakashi said honestly.

"You know, I heard she was related to Kushina. I haven't actually seen her yet, but they also say she looks like the girl version of Minato," Asuma agreed.

Kakashi nodded at Asuma, then ordered some chicken and eggplant to eat. Asuma ordered the barbeque pork, and an assorted vegetable plate for himself.

Kakashi then said, "Yeah she really does. She's got this beautiful bright yellow hair, and her eyes are like the ocean. And she just radiates happiness, you'd have to meet her to know what I mean," Kakashi said affectionately.

Asuma just smiled and nodded as Kakashi talked about Naruko. ' _Man… I've never seen Kakashi ever talk about somebody so much… I wonder if he really does like her… I was just playing around earlier to distract him from me, but I didn't expect it to actually work…'_

"She sounds like a great girl. I'll have to meet her. Would you mind introducing her to me sometime?" Asuma asked Kakashi.

"Yeah sure. She is on a mission right now, but when she returns I'll be sure to introduce you two,"

The two then sat in a comfortable silence until the food came, which wasn't long. When the waitress came to bring their food, they both thanked her and started cooking the food.

"So… Have you talked to Kurenai lately?" Kakashi said smugly.

Asuma laughed nervously, sticking his hand behind his head, "Well…"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

It was the fourth day of their trek towards the Land of Frost, and Naruko was freezing her butt off. She was _not_ used to this kind of weather. She was used to Konoha's moderate weather of. Naruko was walking a few steps behind the merchant she was protecting, and so far, there had been no attacks.

It was about noon, so Naruko suggested they grab a quick bite to eat, and then try to pick up the pace so that they could get to their destination by sun down. The merchant agreed, so they sat down, and pulled out their respective meals. While in the last village, Naruko had picked up some rice balls and pork buns to keep in her bag for the day's travels.

Naruko gazed around the barren, snowy fields. She was watching as the delicate snowflakes began to fall when she heard a snap of a twig behind her, and a curse. She whipped around, pulling out a kunai knife and stated, "Come out, and drop your weapon,"

A shadowy figure walked slowly out of the woods, with their hands up.

"Who are you?" Naruko said, loudly.

"None of your business girlie," The low voice said, and Naruko flipped back as a kunai whizzed through the air space she had just been occupying.

"What do you want?" She stated boldly, trying to find where the ninja had run off to hide,

"Isn't it obvious?" He said, laughing as Naruko threw a kunai in the direction of his voice, "I want that merchant, he has money, and I'm a little short on cash right now,"

Naruko growled at the evasive ninja. She was hoping that he was not skilled enough to put up a big fight, but it wasn't looking like that was the case. Naruko sighed, and created three shadow clones. "Go protect the merchant. Don't let anything happen to him,"

"Aye-aye captain,"

"Okie dokie"

"Alright!"

Naruko grinned, "Now to take care of this loser. Come out where I can see you, you coward!" She yelled out to the trees.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw someone darting out of the trees towards her. Naruko whipped around and blocked his Kunai with the one she was holding, "Nice try, but why don't you try to be more creative next time?" Naruko said, trying to throw the ninja off with her talk.

Naruko swung her legs underneath her opponent, and punched him in the jaw swhen he jumped to avoid it, sending him straight towards the ground. He hit the snow with a giant _poof,_ and a cloud of white erupted from where he was. Naruko quickly followed, slamming a knee to his chest.

"Did you think, I was going to let you take him?" She said with a dangerous look on her face, "Anything you want to say before I knock you out?"

"Yeah, I just want to say that you're an idiot for letting your guard down!" The ninja yelled at her, "Hibiki, NOW!"

Naruko looked behind her quickly and saw… Nothing. Then she felt a sharp pain in her gut as the ninja stabbed her with his kunai knife.

Naruko yelped in surprise, then knocked the ninja out with a swift punch to his jaw. As she hit, she heard a crack, "Maybe I hit him a little too hard," She mumbled to herself. She then tied the ninja up, and placed him against a nearby tree. She then also tied him up to that, for extra security. She then walked slowly towards her other clones standing by the merchant, still standing by him. As the saw her approach, they looked over and waved happily, but then jogged over curiously because of her strange lilt.

Naruko sat down clumsily in the snow, leaning back on a rock to let a clone look at her wound. Luckily, because of the layers she was wearing, it wasn't a lethal hit. She still had a giant gash in her stomach though. Naruko hissed as one of her doubles took off her jacket, letting the cold touch her skin. Naruko looked curiously at the wound as another one of her cleaned and wrapped it up with gauze.

"That should do it!" The clone said, giving her a thumb up for the job well done.

Naruko got up, gingerly testing to see if she could walk well. She then hopped a little, making sure everything was good, "Alright let's keep going, we should still be able to get there before nightfall,"

"But Naruko, what about your wound?" The merchant asked worriedly.

"Don't worry about me! It's not a big deal! I'll be keeping the clones around too, so it'll be okay. I promise!"

The merchant nodded nervously, then started walking again

Just as Naruko predicted, they got to the town just before the sun started setting. She led the merchant into the village, and to the inn where he was meeting his client. The merchant thanked Naruko for her help, and offered her a drink with him, but Naruko declined. She insisted that she had to get up early the next day to head back, so she really shouldn't be drinking at all. The merchant nodded in response, looking a little put out. The merchant was no older than 25, and wasn't too bad looking, so she had almost reconsidered, but it would be inappropriate of her. Ninja were not supposed to fraternize with their clients. So, Naruko gave him a polite goodnight, and went to go rest up before she left in the morning to go home.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Naruko could see the gate of Konoha, and stopped right in front of the gate. She gazed up at the large doorway that protected the village, then walked in. She saw two young looking ninja at the stand right inside the gates.

"Hey stop there! You need to check in with us to make sure you're an official leaf ninja!" One of the ninja said. He had spikey hair and a thin bandage covering the bridge of his nose, tied behind his head.

"Don't be stupid, she's wearing the leaf symbol on her forehead," The second said to his partner, who had hair dark hair covering one of his eyes and a bandana on his head.

"Sorry about that, what's your name? We just started here, so we're still learning people's names!" The same ninja said again.

"My name is Naruko Uzumaki. What are your two's names?" She said lightly, smiling at the two.

"My name is Izumo, and my partner is Kotetsu! We're chuunin. We just passed our exams last year, and the Hokage decided to put us on guard duty for a bit,"

Kotetsu smiled and waved at Naruko, "I like it, because we don't have to do a lot of work,"

"Don't say that in front of her! She probably reports to the hokage!"

"Don't worry, I won't say a thing," Naruko said with a wink

"Well it looks like you're on the list Uzumaki-san," Izumo said

"You can just call me Naruko! Thanks a bunch, I hope to see you guys again!" Naruko said brightly.

Naruko then walked further into the city. She felt her stomach where she had been stabbed, and flinched. It still hurt a lot, because she wasn't very good at medical work. She had just been able to do basic field work, and hope it didn't get infected.

As Naruko walked towards the hospital, she thought _'I should go get my payment first… So I can get some ramen…'_

With that goal in mind, she switched course and started to head towards the mission office.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Kakashi walked up to his sensei's office, and knocked twice.

"Come in," He heard Minato say.

Kakashi walked in confidently, ready for his next mission. When Minato saw him, he smiled, and motioned for Kakashi to stand in front of the desk.

"Kakashi, as you know I have called you in for a mission. You probably know about the Chuunin exams, right?"

Kakashi nodded, "The one Naruko will be taking?"

"Yes, that's right. They are being held in Amegakure this year, and we really don't know much about the hidden village at all. Since this would be a great time to do some harmless and nonsuspicious investigating, I would like you to go and collect as much information as you can from the village,"

Kakashi nodded another time, "Would you like me to go undercover?" he asked

Minato shook his head, "No, that will not be necessary actually. I want you to go with Naruko,"

Kakashi raised his eyebrow, "Not to be rude, but I don't think she really needs a body guard. She is a ninja, and a powerful one at that. And you will be there too. Are you sure you wouldn't rather I go under some disguise"

Minato smiled slightly, "Well I won't be able to do much investigating as Hokage, and I feel lit will be less suspicious if you are with someone who is actually taking the exams. It is why this mission is well suited to you. You two would go together as a couple, of sorts, and you would be let in right along with her,"

At the word ' _couple'_ Kakashi's eye got wide, "You know we aren't a couple, right?"

Minato nodded, "I know that, but you two are the same age, and happen to be friends. You took care of her when she was sick after all. I think you two could make a cute couple, even if it is not authentic. Of course, I can assign someone else if you are uncomfortable with this. I can always ask Guy, or Asuma. I know they both would like to get to know her better,"

"No, that's okay," Kakashi said quickly. He then took a deep breath to compose himself, then said, "I mean, see no problem with us going together,"

To think that Minato-sensei would give Naruko to someone else. He would not let anyone else take her! Not that she was his property… But Minato had asked him first, so obviously he had to go with her. He didn't want Minato-sensei to think he was weak. Plus, he might tell Naruko, and then she would think he didn't be with her. Then he would go back to either being constantly alone… or with Guy all the time. ' _That's why I need to take this mission…'_ Kakashi thought to himself, ' _I can't spend all of my time with Guy… Naruko hasn't made many friends yet and so if I abandon her she will probably feel hurt and be all alone… yeah'._ Kakashi then bowed to Minato, thanking him for the mission, and walked out the door to prepare.

Minato smiled to himself, proud of his ability to sweet talk Kakashi. Minato knew just what was going on in the young jonin's mind, and he hoped that what he thought might happen would become reality.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Naruko thanked the man at the desk and stuffed the check in her toad wallet to deposit later. She had found one that was almost exactly like the one she had when she was younger. For sentimental reasons, she just had to get it. As she was walking out, she skipped happily, ready to get some ramen.

She was daydreaming about what she would get, when she heard a voice from behind her say, "So, you're back?"

Naruko turned around slowly on her heel, so she wouldn't aggravate her wound, and shouted, "Kakashi!" Before hugging Kakashi tightly, "What are you doing here?"

"I was just getting a mission from the Hokage," He said in an even voice, "Nothing big really, I'm sure he'll tell you about it,"

Naruko frowned a bit, "Are you leaving now?"

"No, I'm leaving the same time as you do for your chuunin exams. I'm actually going to be accompanying you,"

Naruko just huffed, and rolled her eyes, "I don't need a body guard. I especially don't need _you_ as my body guard. I can defend myself perfectly well thank you very much,"

"Oh really?" Kakashi said skeptically, lightly tapping her stomach.

Naruko flinched, and bent over in pain, "What the hell… Why did you do that?" She said angrily

"To prove my point," Kakashi said smugly, "Obviously, you can't protect yourself,"

Naruko just rolled her eyes again, and leaned against a wall, until her legs stopped shaking, "It was a stupid mistake, he was all ' _don't let your guard down'_ and I had to look and he somehow got a kunai and stabbed me in the stomach! But he didn't live to tell the tale, so that's all that matters now," Naruko said triumphantly

"You killed him?" Kakashi asked skeptically, not expecting that from the blonde teen. They were both ninja, but he just didn't expect that from her…

"I need to go to the hospital to get this checked out," Naruko said, motioning towards her stomach, and changing the subject.

Kakashi nodded, following behind her.

"You don't have to come you know," Naruko said lightly

"Yeah, I know, but I don't have anything else to do," Kakashi said dryly, pulling out his book to read as he walked.

As they got to the hospital, and got checked in, they sat and waited for a bit. Kakashi was still reading/ not reading his book, Naruko could never tell. There were some times where she swore that he wasn't reading, because he wouldn't move a page for at least 10 minutes, but maybe he was a slow reader. She didn't know.

"Naruko Uzumaki, A nurse called out,"

Naruko stood, and walked towards the nurse. Kakashi had said he would just wait for her in the waiting room. When they got into the office, the nurse did the usual checkups on her body, then went away saying a doctor would be in soon.

As Naruko waited, she thought about why Kakashi was following her everywhere, ' _Doesn't he have better things to do than follow me around all day? I wonder if he just wants me to pay for his ramen… If he thinks he's going to get away with that he'll be sorry! This explains everything… No wonder he's being so nice to me…'_

"Hello Naruko! My name is Dr. Mizukim and I'm here to check out that injury of yours,"

Naruko looked up, blinking a few times at the surprise entrance.

"Oh, Hello!" Naruko chirped

"Hello," The doctor said with a laugh, "May I see that injury of yours?"

Naruko nodded, taking off her shirt for the doctor, showing her the bandaged area.

"May I?" The doctor asked, gesturing at the bandages.

Naruko nodded, as the doctor unwrapped the bandages carefully, "Nice job wrapping this…" The doctor said to Naruko.

"This looks pretty good, considering you got stabbed. Would you lay back so I can look at it better?"

"Yeah sure," Naruko responded.

Naruko leaned back and watched as the doctor's hands glowed green with her chakra, "I'm going to stitch this up for you, and heal it a bit more. But I don't want you doing anything too strenuous for the next week or so as it heals. This includes training,"

Naruko sighed, but agreed none the less.

"Do you know how often I see people coming back in with their injuries worse because they had been training too hard? Don't be one of those people!" The doctor said jokingly, as she stitched up Naruko.

"I'll try my very best!" Naruko said, giving a mock salute.

The doctor just smiled and finished wrapping up Naruko's newly fixed up wound, "It was nice meeting you!" she said genuinely, "Are there any other concerns you have?"

"Nope,"

"Well then I will be on my way!" She said, and walked out of the door.

Naruko hopped off the bed after she had left, and made her way back to the waiting room to pay for her visit, and meet up with Kakashi again.

"How'd it go?" Kakashi asked, putting his book in his back pocket.

"Everything is fine and dandy. She gave me some stiches and said, ' _don't train too hard'_ ," Naruko exclaimed honestly.

Kakashi just nodded at her statement as they walked out of the hospital.

"Do you want to get lunch with me?" Naruko asked out of the blue.

"Only if it's not ramen," Kakashi said, looking over at Naruko with a raised eyebrow.

"What? How did you know I wanted ramen? And how could you say that! Ramen is the single most delicious, and delightful experience on this planet! How could you say no ramen?"

"Because both you, and Kushina always want to go to ramen, so Minato-sensei always wants to take us to ramen. And I just can't eat that much ramen. It's going to make me fat, and tired," Kakashi said bluntly.

"Are you calling me fat?" Naruko said in mock hurt.

Kakashi just stared at Naruko for a second shaking his head at her antics, before saying, "Let's go get sushi,"

"Hmmm let me think about it," Naruko said playfully, tapping her finger on her chin, "I guess, if it will make you happy Kashi,"

"Don't call me Kashi," Kakashi said, glaring at her.

"But Kashiii," Naruko said, giggling at Kakashi's annoyed glares.

When they got to the restaurant, and sat down, Kakashi looked around the room absent mindedly before resting his eyes on Naruko. She was looking through the menu, trying to decide what she wanted. Kakashi already knew what he wanted, so he watched Naruko read over the menu with furrowed eyebrows.

"Hello, my name is Kira, can I get you anything to drink?" A server said as she walked up.

Kakashi kept his eyes on Naruko as she asked for a cup of tea, and glanced over quickly to say that he wanted a tea as well. The server nodded, and walked away to get their tea.

"Have you ever been here before?" Kakashi asked.

Naruko looked up from the menu, before folding it and putting it down, "No, I usually eat ramen when I go out," Naruko said honestly

Kakashi nodded, and looked around again before questioning, "Why do you only eat at Ichiraku's?"

Naruko glanced up, as if thinking about her response, and then said, "He was the only one who accepted me as a kid. I was hated by the entire village for being the nine tails jinchuriki, so they kicked me out of almost every store. Every store except for Ichiraku's. It also helps that I love ramen, but old man Teuchi knows me so well, I feel bad about abandoning him! He's the only family I've ever had,"

Kakashi listened silently, wondering how the same villagers he knew could be so cruel. How they could blame a child for all their grief.

"It's okay though," Naruko continued, "I've made lots of friends so it's okay! I'm not upset, or resentful,"

"Why not? If a whole village were jerks to me I would hate them for it. And your friends… they're all gone, aren't they? You'll never see them again. So, you're alone again. And what about when people find out you're the nine tails jinchuriki here? Wont' they be just as mean, if not worse? The attack just happened, and people's loved ones were still killed, so they're bound to be upset" Kakashi said instinctually. He had a bad habit of being brutally honest, even if his honesty hurt others.

Naruko swallowed, and looked down. ' _He's right, I have none of the friends and people I love here now… They are all too young, or I haven't met them yet…'_

"I'm sorry," Kakashi said hastily, realizing his mistake, ' _Why do I have to be so blunt… That's obviously a sensitive topic for her… Some genius I am…'_

 _"_ I didn't mean to…" Kakashi started.

"Kakashi is that you?" A surprised voice said from behind them, "Are you on a date?"

Kakashi turned around, a little glad to have someone break the tension, "Hayate, hello. How are you?"

Naruko looked up at him, surprised to see another familiar face, _'That's the guy who proctored the elimination round of my chuunin exam… Hayate Gekko…'_

"I'm well, I'm going out to lunch with Yugao. You know her, right?" Hayate asked happily, as Kakashi nodded.

"You still haven't answered my question, who's the lovely lady?"

Naruko blushed, and spoke up, "I'm Naruko Uzumaki! I'm a bit new in the village,"

"Uzumaki huh? There aren't many of those here in Konoha… Any chance you're related to Kushina Uzumaki?" Hayate said curiously

"Yes, she's my… sister," Naruko said, not sure what to call her mother. A 22-year-old woman should not have a 16-year-old daughter.

Hayate nodded, convinced of her white lie, "Well I'll leave you two alone. It was nice seeing you Kakashi. And it was also very nice meeting you Naruko. I hope I'll see you again sometime!"

Naruko nodded, and waved to the two ninja, "So Kakashi… I didn't realize this was a date," Naruko said slyly

Kakashi blushed a bit under his mask, but to Naruko he looked unfazed, "When did I say it was a date? He was just assuming, that because we happen to be out together, enjoying some food, that it had to be a date. Maybe we're just friends,"

"Just friends huh?" Naruko said, smiling a little at that comment. She brushed her hair behind her ear, and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest.

' _I thought we were more…'_

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

It was finally the day. The day Naruko would take her Chuunin exam. She had been at the butt end of genin jokes for too long! No more would she suffer from the endless banter of her teammates. No more would she live a life of D rank missions. Finally, she would be recognized for who she truly was. A SPLENDID NINJA OF THE LEAF.

Naruko laughed to herself, "I guess I've started picking up on Guy's habits…" She said to herself, "Too much taijutsu training with him,"

Naruko had been put into a team of two genin. Their third member had passed the exam earlier, and they had yet to pass as well. Although the two had been working together for a while, Naruko was sure that she would fit in just fine. She had never had a problem making friends before.

As Naruko walked up to the front of the building she saw two younger people standing with their sensei. There was a girl and a boy, one with blue hair and one with light brown hair. Naruko saw their sensei put his hand on both of their heads, then walk off. Naruko approached them quickly introduced herself.

"Hello I'm Naruko, are you guys the team I am going with?" Naruko said cheerily

The first ninja gave her a bored side eye, and sighed. Naruko was a bit put off by that, but the other smiled at her and said, "Yes were your team! My name is Kana Mitsuki, and this is my teammate Akido Saori. We are very happy to have you as our teammate,"

Naruko smiled at the haired haired ninja, "Awesome! I'm glad to have a team as great as you here to take these exams with,"

Kana smiled at Naruko, and the other continued to stare at her.

After the short introduction, the group walked into the designated building. They followed the signs to the room they were supposed to wait in while the rest of the teams arrived. When they got to the door they checked in with a shinobi holding a checklist of genin there to take the exam. When they walked into the room, they were greeted by a dull swash of conversations.

' _Just like last time…'_ Naruko thought to herself. She quickly glanced around the room, taking in her surroundings, then turned to her teammates.

"Why don't we go sit down over there and get to know each other better," Naruko offered.

The other two nodded, and followed her to an empty spot on the floor where they all sat in a circle.

"Well I'll start off I guess. My name is Naruko Uzumaki, and I am 16 years old. I would've taken the Chuunin exams earlier, but I was on a long training trip with my sensei, and just got back recently. I am a close-range fighter, and use shadow clones frequently to fight in large numbers. I have wind style chakra, and I am really bad with genjutsu in general," Naruko explained to the others

"Alright I'll go next!" Kana said loudly, "You already know my name, I am 13 years old, and this is my second try on the chuunin exam. I am also a close range fighter, and I have really good aim and reflexes. I am good with taijutsu and ninjutsu, and don't use genjutsu much but I can break out of them pretty well. I use fire style chakra, and I can use snakes too!"

"I'm 13, and I'm on Kana's team as well. I fight mid and long range usually. I use genjutsu better than my other two teammates, and I use earth style chakra,"

Naruko nodded at the two, "I have a feeling this is going to go well," she said confidently.

The newly acquainted team continued to exchange casual conversation, learning more about each other slowly. Suddenly though, the room went dark. There were a few screams from some of the participants in the room, and silence followed. Slowly silence turned to whispers, whispers to a dull roar, and suddenly the room was alight with the voices of teams around them.

Naruko quickly grabbed her two teammates arms and brought them closer to her so she could whisper in their ears.

"There are three ways out of this room. Most likely the teams will be heading for the door directly behind us, but I saw two more doors on the other side of the room. One of them had a sign indicating that's where the next test will be. Let's head over there," Naruko said confidently.

"Alright,"

"Mhm,"

She heard the other two say in agreement.

Naruko lightly pulled on the other two's arm and said quietly, "Don't let go, I don't want to be separated,"

As the team headed to the other side of the room, she felt others recklessly running into each other, because of the disorienting darkness. Also, because a lot of the teams were heading in the opposite direction as them, all having the same idea to go to the front door.

As Naruko's team got to the back, she heard a voice shout, "It's locked!"

"What no way," She heard another say.

"Someone light a flare!" Another person said

And with a flash of light and an explosion, a huge roar of fighting and yelling came from the opposite side as disagreements of how the door couldn't be locked were overheard.

Naruko held her breath, hoping this door wouldn't be locked as well. As she twisted the handle, and pushed the door open, she let her breath out. The door opened up to another dimly lit room.

"Let's go," She said hastily, and walked through the room. As soon as she closed the door, she saw a dim light come on at the end of a long corridor. Naruko looked at her fellow teammates, who nodded in encouragement. They would head towards that door, as it was the only way of the room. When they opened that door, they were surprised to find an empty room, with one person standing in the front of the room.

"Congratulations on being the first to pass the first part of the exam," The proctor said in a low drawl, "My name is Tonka Konata, and I will be the proctor of the second stage of the exam. For now, you can just stay put. In about 5 minutes the other teams should be coming in,"

Naruko turned and grinned at the other two, glad that she didn't have to do another test like the first time she had taken the exam. ' _Man, this was way easier than the first time… If I had to take another test I would've failed for sure…'_

"Nice job you guys, I'm glad we actually did that!" Naruko said enthusiastically

"It's all thanks to you!" Kana said happily, "I hadn't even looked around the room,"

"Yeah, thanks," Akido said quietly, a small smile gracing his face

"Awhh it was nothing! You should always observe your surroundings. My old sensei really pounded that one into me," Naruko said with a nervous laugh.

As the time ticked by more teams came in, and at the end of the time it looked like about half of the teams had made it through. About 8 teams had made it through by the looks of it, including hers.

"Congratulations to all of you. My name is Tonka Konata, and I will be the proctor for the second stage of the test. You have successfully passed the first part of the exam. You all have demonstrated the ability to pay attention to your surroundings and act quickly and calmly in a time of confusion. After 5 minutes, both doors at the end of the room were locked, and the lights turned back on in the main room. If you had not gone through those doors by the time the 5 minutes were up, you would have been disqualified. Tomorrow we will be having the next. Report back here tomorrow morning at 7 AM sharp. Anyone who is late will be disqualified. You are all dismissed," Tonka said, then turned and walked out of the room.

"I wonder what the next challenge will be," Naruko heard someone say behind her. As she looked around, she took in the teams around her. Because they were in Amegakure, there were more of the hidden rain genin than the rest. There were 4 teams from Amegakure, 2 from Konohagakure (including her team), and two from Sunagakure. She smiled to herself, and after giving a quick goodbye to her teammates, she strode confidentially out of the room to go find the man she would be spending the duration of the Chuunin exams with.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Kakashi was drinking some tea in a small café he had found while traipsing around Amegakure, taking in small bits about the village. He was not finding out a lot about the village so he decided to find a place to sit and observe. He sat down in the back of the café, under a henge, watching and listening for some leads for his investigation. It had been an hour, and he had heard little talk about… Anything. It seemed the people of Amegakure were very withheld about issues. Be it personal, or political. He was watching the door when he saw a familiar blonde walk in, and sit on a stool in the front of the café island. She smiled sweetly at the waiter, who seemed to be flirting with her a little. She blushed slightly, and laughed, making her usual loud gestures with her hands. A small knot formed in his stomach as he watched her easily woo the man. She seemed to have that effect on everyone, drawing them close without realizing it. ' _Why is she acting like that… What did he ever do for her… he doesn't even know her…'_ Kakashi thought exasperatedly, ' _Why do I even care…'_ Kakashi thought with a huff, and continued to watch people around the café. But he couldn't help but glance over at Naruko every so often. She watched her as she drank her tea thoughtfully, seemingly lost in thought. As he was watching her, he saw another guy walk in. He looked around, and went to sit at the bar with Naruko. Kakashi furrowed his eyebrows at the man's actions. He got up and walked slowly out of the small café, leaving his payment on the table. As he walked past the two he heard him asking her if she was from Ame. For some reason, it annoyed Kakashi that Naruko responded so playfully. He didn't know why it bothered him so much. Her personality made her seem as if she was flirting with everyone she talked to. The confidence in her voice, to the bright smiles she gave. The warmness, and casual touches she seemed to give to everyone. Kakashi walked out of the café quickly and ducked into the alley besides it. He then changed himself back to how he naturally looked, then strode confidently back into the café.

He approached Naruko, and said casually, "Making some new friends I see,"

The man in front of Naruko raised his eyebrows at Kakashi, sizing him up.

"So, you have a boyfriend…?" He asked, eyeing Kakashi warily.

"No, he's just a friend!" Naruko said cheerfully, "I'm taking the chuunin exams and he just came with me so I wouldn't be alone!"

The other man smiled at her, quickly running his eyes along her lean body, "So are you doing anything later?"

"I…" Naruko started, but before she could say anything Kakashi butted in.

"We should really check into the hotel. You've got an early day tomorrow, right?" He said quickly.

"Oh, yeah! I'm sorry, maybe another time!" Naruko said with a wave, and left the Amegakure ninja alone.

"Man, why are the cute ones always taken," He said to himself, sulking above his tea.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"What were you doing with him," Kakashi said defensively.

"Why do you care? I was just cold from the rain so I got some tea. I had been looking for you," Naruko said with a carefree voice, "I don't know why you had to interrupt. He was a really nice guy!"

"Well we need to find a place to sleep," Kakashi said flatly

Naruko just shrugged, and let her steps fall in line with Kakashi's, "I think you're just jealous that I made a friend and you didn't," She said playfully

Kakashi just kept walking, ignoring her comment. They walked silently through the village until they found a brightly lit inn, advertising a hot spring spa.

"Let's stay here! It looks nice, and they have baths here," Naruko said buoyantly

Kakashi just shrugged, and responded, "Whatever you want,"

With a bright smile, Naruko pushed open the door to check in.

"Hello sir, we would like to stay at your inn, do you have any open rooms?" Naruko asked politely.

"For you and him?" The man responded in a gruff voice.

"Yes the two of us," Naruko said back with another smile.

The man grunted and grabbed a key, handing it to her, "Room 15," He said shortly, then settled back into his chair.

"Alright, lets go!" Naruko said cheerily, leading the way to their room.

When they got to the door Naruko opened the room, and walked in. The room was modest, and had one bathroom, and one bed with a lamp next to it.

The two of them stared at the one bed, then looked at each other, then back at the bed. Both ninja's faces turned pink, as they realized what the inn keeper thought they were.

"I um," Naruko started

"I can sleep on the floor," Kakashi interrupted. Trying his hardest to keep his cool attitude in check, he came up with an excuse quickly, "You've got your exam tomorrow, so you should get the bed so you get a good night's rest,"

Naruko looked at the floor still blushing a little, "The bed is big enough for two people, we can just sleep on opposite sides. I don't want you to be uncomfortable,"

"I couldn't, it would be-''

"What are you scared of me?" Naruko demanded loudly

"No," Kakashi said impassively

"What is it then? I don't have cooties," She challenged, getting louder with every word she said.

Kakashi rolled his eyes, "I didn't know you wanted to sleep with me so badly,"

Naruko's face turned bright red at the comment, and opened her mouth to say something, but could only respond with a strangled sound.

"I guess if that's what you really want," Kakashi said, with an amused glint in his eye.

"No that's not what I meant!" Naruko yelled, getting worked up, "I'm going to the hot spring," She said shortly, and with that she stormed off.

As Naruko walked to the hot spring her head whirled with the annoying comments Kakashi was making, ' _He was never like this back in my time… What a jerk… Honestly… Why does he think he can get away with that…'_

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

As he watched Naruko leave the room, Kakashi sighed and reached back to put his hand behind his head. Maybe he was egging her on too much. Kakashi shrugged, then headed out to the hot spring. He walked slowly through the inn, observing the sparse decorations. He really liked this inn. When he got to the hot spring he got undressed, washed off, and waded into the warm water. With a relaxed sigh, Kakashi sunk into the spring until just his nose was above the steaming water. Breathing in deeply, he enjoyed the fresh scent of the air.

The constant drum of the rain on the roof above the hot spring was relaxing, and Kakashi listened to it absent mindedly. Drowning in the sounds of the gurgling water and rush of water, he let his thoughts wander. He thought about today, and seeing Naruko. He hadn't even asked her about how her day went, he had just whisked her away from her tea.

Kakashi let out a slow breath into the water, watching the bubbles rise to the surface before his eyes. He heard the soft chattering of people in the next spa over. Kakashi wondered if Naruko was still over there. He saw her lithe body in his mind, and a blush not caused by the heat of the water, crept up his face. Kakashi shook his head, to get the image out of his mind, and dunked his head under water. He hoped that the hot water on his face would take his mind off of that… body.

Kakashi groaned again, what was happening to him? ' _I am a jonin… An elite ninja of Konoha… Why can't I control these damn thoughts in my head? Naruko is just another girl, some person I happen to know... She is no different than any other girl… From all of the other girls who tried to get my attention… I don't care about them, and I don't care about her…'_

Kakashi groaned again, deciding that the minerals in the water must be getting to him if he was thinking about her so much.

So, with that last thought, Kakashi stood up and waltzed out of the spring.

When Kakashi got back to the room, he opened the door silently, and walked in without a sound. The lights were off, except for the bathroom light which had been kept on for some reason. Kakashi walked quietly up to the bed, gazing at the sleeping girl in it.

Naruko's long golden locks were strewn about the bed, still a little wet from the water. She was laying on her side, taking up over half the bed with her sprawling arms. Kakashi smiled warmly, and went to change into some more comfortable clothes and to get ready to sleep.

When Kakashi walked out of the bathroom, and got into bed, he saw that Naruko's eyes were half open.

"I thought you were asleep," He said quietly.

"You and your loud walking around woke me up…" Naruko said sleepily, not awake enough to be angry.

"Sorry about that, I thought I was being quiet," Kakashi said, moving to get under the covers of the bed as he apologized.

"S'fine," Naruko said, rolling over, "Night Kashi, sleep well,"

"Good night… Naru…"

 **A/N: So that's the chapter… I hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned for part two of the chuunin exam. I've got most of that figured out, so it shouldn't take me to long to update.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8: Exam Time! Part Two

**Chapter 8:**

 **A/N: I'm so sorry for not updating sooner! School is hard man.**

 **So, I've decided that for the sake of things not being confusing that Naruko's name is officially changed to Naruko, And I will be updating the chapters too. I had someone comment about it, and it had kind of been bothering me too, to be honest. I was just dumb and was not paying attention to names.**

 **Secondly, Anko is Naruko's age, and I plan on them being good friends. I got confused trying to figure out who was whose age and I ended up fudging up some ages.**

 **Enjoy!**

When Kakashi woke up, he cracked his eyes open, and glanced at the window. He looked at still dark sky greeting him. Not wanting to wake up just yet, Kakashi closed his eyes again and relaxed into the bed. He was warm, and the air around him smelled faintly of lavender. Kakashi breathed deeply again, and noticed a heavy feeling on his chest as he inhaled. Kakashi opened his eyes again, and glanced down. There was an arm draped over his chest, with a hand resting on his hip. He followed the arm back up to its owner to find the person he was sharing the bed with. Sleeping on his shoulder. With his arm wrapped around her. Kakashi blushed profusely and tried to move his arm without waking Naruko, but in response to his efforts Naruko just snuggled closer to his chest. Kakashi sighed, ' _This isn't actually that bad… I can just go back to sleep… it is nowhere close to 7 AM anyways…'_ he thought, looking at the clock that read 4:30 AM, ' _I should just get back to sleep…'_

Kakashi looked over at Naruko skeptically one more time, before giving into his tiredness and leaning back into the warmth of the bed. He pulled Naruko closer, and drifted off to sleep.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The next time Kakashi woke up that morning, it was from the insistent blare of the alarm clock next to him. His eyes snapped open the moment the alarm started going off. He looked over at Naruko, who was murmuring in response to the bothersome beeping. He was about to turn off the alarm clock himself, when Naruko let out a long sigh, and climbed over Kakashi to smack the off button. Kakashi ground his teeth together at Naruko's utter obliviousness to her surroundings. Her knee had hit an unfortunate spot as Naruko had climbed over Kakashi to turn off the clock.

"Move now," Kakashi said dangerously to Naruko. She looked over innocently, unaware of her position.

"Fine," She said, and rolled out of bed, ungracefully hitting the floor, then jumping up, "I'm going to get ready," she said haughtily.

"Whatever," Kakashi said, falling back onto his pillow.

Naruko stuck her tongue out at Kakashi, then walked over to the bathroom to change. When she got to the bathroom Naruko thought about how she woke up. She had managed to wrap herself around Kakashi as they slept together.

' _I thought I had grown out of that… I've never done that when I slept with other people…'_ Naruko thought to herself with a small smile. She watched herself in the mirror as she brushed her teeth, and her hair.

' _I wonder if Kakashi thinks I'm pretty…'_

Naruto smiled at the mirror, and brushed her hair behind her ear.

' _Yeah right… As if I have a chance with him… I bet he has girls following him everywhere… Kinda like Sasuke…'_ Naruko thought dismissively with a small frown. She bent down to wash her face, thinking about some of the small similarities between the two. She used to have a crush on Sasuke, but that ended quickly the first time they sparred.

' _He was always such a jerk…'_ Naruko thought affectionately, then pulled her hair back into a long braid. She slipped on her orange pants, and black long sleeved shirt, then walked outside the bathroom to see Kakashi standing up, dressed already.

"It's about time," Kakashi said sarcastically, "I'm growing grey hairs waiting for you,"

Naruko smiled at his joke, "Well maybe you should've woken up first if you wanted to use the bathroom before me,"

Kakashi shrugged and walked into the bathroom.

Naruko sat down on the bed and started wrapping her leg with the bandages, and attaching her weapons pouches. She quickly looked through what supplies she had with her, then stuffed them all back into their places.

Naruko leaned back on her hands, and gazed at the clock.

6:18

"Kakashi were going to get breakfast hurry up," Naruko called out

Kakashi didn't respond, so Naruko stood up and marched over to the door leading into the bathroom.

She rapped loudly on the door, and yelled, "Don't ignore me!"

When she still didn't get a response, Naruko threw the door open.

Kakashi was just pulling up his mask, and looked over at her with a raised eyebrow, "Okay, let's go now then,"

Naruto rolled her eyes, and put on her sandals.

"I don't get why you're wearing sandals here," Kakashi said casually

Naruko looked over curiously, "Why?"

"Because it's always raining," Kakashi said matter-of-factly

"So? I don't have any other shoes," Naruto said passively. She stood up, and opened the door. Kakashi followed her out.

"You should probably get a pair,"

"Why do I need a pair? I don't care if my feet are wet, and sandals are easier to dry off than boots,"

"Well what if you're in the snow,"

Naruko thought about it for a moment, "It wasn't a huge problem for me when I went there a few weeks ago. I guess I don't get cold easily,"

Kakashi stared at her for a moment, "But you could get frostbite,"

"I doubt it," Naruko said back, "I've got a giant demon fox living inside me, I'm not going to get frostbite,"

"Whatever," Kakashi said huffily.

Naruko giggled at his annoyance, "What? You don't like being proved wrong?"

"We're here," Kakashi said curtly, pushing open the doors to a local tea house.

The two walked up to the counter to sit down, ordered two teas.

"I'll have a miso, and three rice balls please!" Naruko said cheerily,

"I'll just have a miso please," Kakashi ordered in a monotone voice.

"I can't wait to see what the second test is! The first one was sooo easy," Naruko said excitedly

Kakashi just nodded and swirled his tea

"What if it's catching a special kind of ninja fish in the river?" Naruko offered playfully.

Kakashi stared forward, ignoring her questions.

Naruko nudged Kakashi lightly in the side, and suggested again, "Maybe I'll have to get someone to talk about a top secret, ultra-special thing,"

Kakashi glanced over at her and shrugged.

"Okay fine, I get it, you're just hungry," Naruko said lightly, "I get grumpy when I'm hungry too,"

Naruko kicked her feet back in forth under the table, and smiled when their food was brought to them, and said "Thank you!" before digging into her meal.

Kakashi ate his miso quickly, pulling up his mask before Naruko could look over.

"This food is so good! Rice balls are almost as good as ramen," Naruko said, making a satisfied sound and rubbing her stomach. "I'm hoping this second test isn't like my first one. We got attacked by Orochimaru, and my teammate Sasuke got a curse mark, and we barely made it out alive! And then the leaf village got attacked by the sand village and I had to fight Gaara, who you don't know. He's the one tailed jinchuriki. He's cool, I think you'd like him. He doesn't talk much either,"

Naruto looked over at Kakashi for a response, but he just kept staring ahead.

"Why are you ignoring me?" Naruko said, offended by his actions.

Kakashi just sighed and looked over at her again, "I'm not,"

"Is this because I disagreed with you about boots? It's not a big deal, I can buy boots if you're really that worried about my toes,"

"It's not that, I'm not that shallow," Kakashi said curtly,

"Okay then what is it?" Naruko asked defensively,

"It's nothing,"

"Just tell me! I'm not stupid, I can tell that you're annoyed with me,"

"I'm not annoyed," Kakashi said slowly,

"I thought we were friends, why can't you just tell me what's wrong?" Naruko said, getting upset as Kakashi's lack of openness, "If you're upset maybe I can help you," She said, putting her hand on his knee.

Kakashi glared at her for a minute, "We're not friends," he said coldly, and turned back to face forward again.

Naruko's eyes widened, and her hand fell to her side. She bit the inside of her lip, and swallowed, staring at Kakashi. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and stood up slowly.

"Okay," She said softly, and walked out of the café, leaving money for her meal next to her cup.

Kakashi willed himself not to look back at her.

' _She seemed really hurt by that… Maybe I should… No stop it… You're on Anbu… You're supposed to be emotionless… And you're on a mission… You don't need to be getting close to anyone like that… She's just a stupid girl, and she doesn't mean anything…'_

"Girlfriend trouble?" The waiter asked casually, interrupting his train of thought "Honestly, girls are more trouble than they're worth,"

Kakashi stared at him for a moment, before standing up, and dropping change on the counter.

' _How did she get in my head… 'Kakashi_ thought, shaking his head angrily, ' _Focus on your mission…'_

 _.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-._

Naruko walked quickly to the meeting place for the next exam. When she got there, there was only about half of the teams there. Naruko walked over to a brick wall to lean on, and looked down at her toes. She wiggled them, and sighed ' _If I had known he was so sensitive about footwear I wouldn't have brought it up…'_ Naruto glared at her toes ' _I didn't even bring it up, it was all him…'_ Naruko stared up at the rain, then closed her eyes, ' _This is no time to be thinking about boys… I should just focus on getting to be a chuunin… I don't need Kakashi, there are way nicer people out there…'_

"Hey! Naruko!" Naruko heard a high voice yell at her. Naruko looked over to see her two teammates smiling and waving at her. Naruko waved back and walked over to meet them.

"Hey how are you two doing? Did you sleep okay?" Naruko asked

"Yeah we slept fine. Our sensei took us out for dinner last night because we passed the first part of the exam!" Kana said excitedly, "We wanted to invite you but we didn't know where you were staying so we couldn't ask you,"

"Well I'm sure you'll get another chance, because there is no way we aren't passing this part of the test," Naruko said confidently.

The proctor walked in front of the group of genin and cleared her voice, "Hello everyone, and thank you all for being here on time. Your test is fairly simple. There are 4 scrolls hidden throughout the village, and 8 teams. Your job is to find one of these scrolls before 24 hours is up. After you have found the scroll, you will need to bring it to the center of our lake, where we will be waiting for you. Obviously only 4 teams will make it, that is if 4 teams find a scroll. Good luck, and your time starts… Now!"

Every team but Naruko, Akido, and Kana ran off to search.

"Wait just a second, before we split up, I have a plan. You two will stick with the real me, and I can make a bunch of shadow clones to search for the scrolls. We will search too, but this way we don't have to waste time searching for each other after we find the scroll. Sound like a good plan?"

The two of them nodded.

"Alright, Shadow-Clone Jutsu!" Naruko said, and 100 clones popped up around them.

"You know the drill!" Naruko shouted at them, and with a chorus of cheers they were off.

"How can you make so many shadow clones?" Akido said in awe

"I have a lot of chakra, but I had to work for a long time to get any control over it. That's a story for another time though, let's go find a scroll!"

After running around the village for an hour, the team stopped to catch their breath.

"Where are they hiding these scrolls?" Kana said despairingly.

"I bet the kids from here know exactly where to find it," Akido said quietly.

"This is so annoying, what are my clones doing? They're a bunch of slackers," Naruko said, in a huff.

Akido and Kana laughed at Naruko

"What?" Naruko said, surprised

"You just called yourself a slacker, if they're clones of yourself,"

"Oh," Naruko said, and then smiled, "I guess I kind of am a slacker," She said with a laugh

"Someone just attacked one of my clones!" Naruto then said angrily, "Alright were getting serious now. Let's go find a scroll,"

The other two nodded, and they were off again to find a scroll.

"One of my clones found one!" Naruko said excitedly, after another hour.

"Awesome! Let's go find her," Kana said excitedly

"I think it's pretty close to here," Naruto said confidently, and the team went to find the clone.

When they got to the spot where the clone was, she waved excitedly, but then just as she was about to give it to Naruko, a kunai flew, and hit Naruko's clone in the back. There was a pop, and the scroll dropped to the ground. Naruko ran forward to pick it up, and jumped over another kunai thrown at her.

"That's our scroll," A voice said from on a roof.

"No, its not, I found it fair and square!" Naruko said defensively

"Yeah go get your own," Kana yelled back

"But that takes so much work, and you went and found one for us," The team jumped down and confidently strode towards the team, "If you give it to us now you won't get hurt,"

Naruko scoffed, and crossed her arms, putting the scroll in one of her pockets, "As if you weaklings could hurt us, you look like a bunch of shrimp,"

"You just wasted all of your energy making a bunch of clones! You can't beat us now, its two on three,"

Naruko laughed, and said "Watch me! Shadow-clone jutsu!"

Naruko made 10 clones and they all ran at the genin team at once. The three of them tried to fend them off, but were taken down quickly by Naruko's clones.

"Come on let's go," Naruko said, letting her clones take care of the other team.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Minato sat at his desk, gazing out the window that looked over Konoha.

' _What a strange coincidence…'_ Minato thought aimlessly. Minato wondered about how and why Naruko, his daughter from another future, came back to their time. Obviously, she wasn't from his future. 'She' was a 'he' in this timeline. Additionally, she had mentioned that him and Kushina were dead. Killed by the Nine-Tails.

Minato sighed, and pushed back her hair. Naruko had not been out much since the nine tails attack. He doubted anyone knew that she was the nine tailed jinchuriki, but he was also sure the word would get out soon. He knew that the people of the village would direct their hate towards her, because in their mind she was the demon that killed half of the village.

"You called?" A familiar voice said. A tall man with white hair, and red robes hopped up into the window sill.

"Sensei," Minato said with a smile, "It's so good to see you!"

Jiraiya smiled, and laughed heartily, "I told you Minato, you don't have to call me sensei anymore. You're the Hokage after all,"

Jiraiya climbed through the window, and strolled jauntily to the front of Minato's desk.

"So what did you call me here for?" Jiraiya asked.

"I assume you know the details pertaining to the nine tails attack?" Minato started,

Jiraiya nodded

"This is about the girl, my daughter of sorts, who essentially absorbed the nine-tailed beast into her. I think that in her time she must have been the jinchuriki. I think that was the cause of mine and Kushina's death in her time. But that's beside the point. Naruko is taking the chuunin exams, and I am sure she will excel extraordinarily in them. I have no doubt that she will rise quickly to chuunin, then to Jonin level. But I would like to know more about her capabilities as a jinchuriki. Kushina was unable to control its power, but it seems that Naruto somehow has gained control of it,"

Jiraiya nodded slowly, stroking his chin in thought, "So you want me to train her?"

Minato nodded back, "Yes. In the month leading up to the final part of the chuunin exams, and afterwards. I am expecting some backlash from the villagers about the attack on the village. So I think it would be best if you and her went on a training mission. This would give her time to develop her skills more, and to also let some of the anger die down from the attack,"

"That is very smart of you. You always were a sharp one!" Jiraiya said jokingly, "Maybe she is the child of prophecy, eh?"

Minato smiled at him, "You have said the same thing about all of your students. Maybe while you two are on the mission you can also take her on your information gathering sessions...?" Minato said offhandedly.

"You think she could do it?" Jiraiya asked seriously.

Minato nodded, "I think she may surprise you. I think you will like her a lot, she seems a lot like you. Impulsive, very powerful, and has a very kind heart. But she lacks finesse, and subtlety. Some things you need to work on as well," Minato chided,

Jiraiya made a face of mock offense, "Excuse me? I am the great toad sage, one of the legendary three sanin!"

Minato just grinned at his former sensei, "Will you attend the chuunin exams?"

"Yes, I will be there. It will give me an opportunity to look around,"

"You should meet up with Kakashi then, he has been on a similar mission while him and Naruko are in Ame together,"

Jiraiya raised his eyebrow, "Kakashi Hatake?"

Minato brushed the back of his neck, "Yeah what of it?"

Jiraiya laughed loudly, "Nothing. I'll meet Naruko here tomorrow then?"

Minato nodded once, "Yes, thank you so much sensei,"

"Anything for my favorite student,"

Minato laughed, and waved goodbye to Jiraiya who leapt out the window.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

When Naruko's team reached the center of the lake, they saw that they were (again) the first people there. The wall was blank in front of them, except for a small scroll sized hole. Naruko and the other two looked at the wall and then at each other.

"It seems too obvious that you would insert a scroll in there…" Naruko said suspiciously.

"Maybe there's a trick to it?" Kana asked tentatively.

Akido walked forward and observed the wall carefully. He then looked up and saw some instructions on the ceiling, "Hey guys, there are instructions on the ceiling. It says that to move on to the final round we must find the key to the room above us. And it also says that any team that loses their scroll will be disqualified immediately. So, I guess it's a good thing we didn't put it in the hole right?"

Kana and Naruto nodded, "Maybe the key is in the hole," Naruto suggested. She made a clone, and had her dig around the hole for a key. There was a loud snap and a pop as a trap was sprung in the mysterious hole.

"Ouch, that was a trap," Naruko said sourly.

"Maybe its hidden under one of these loose floorboards," Kana suggested. As they looked around, Kana found a floorboard that came up, and in the hole, was another scroll.

"Here let me open it, it might be another trap," Naruko suggested. One of her clones opened the scroll, and there was a loud pop, and a puff of smoke. Naruko, Kana, Akido, and Naruko's clone jumped back in surprise. Then they saw Akido and Kana's sensei standing proudly.

"Congratulations! You guys passed! Do you have the scroll?" Their sensei asked,

Naruko handed over the scroll, and the sensei congratulated the three of them again, offering to take them to dinner when they got back to the village. They then all left the cottage, and were approached by the proctor, who gave them instructions on the next part of their exam. They had exactly one month to train and prepare for the third part of the trial. They all thanked her and walked off to get packed up and return home.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Kakashi walked around the rainy village, trying to blend in with the surroundings. It had been a long day, and Kakashi was cold. He looked up at the sky and saw it was still as grey as it had been all day. Kakashi sighed. It was close to dinner time, so Kakashi decided to go get some food from a local café. Kakashi sat down silently. He ordered green tea and a rice bowl with pork. Kakashi then stared at the back of a stranger's head, and thought about his morning for the first time that day. He had tried his best to occupy himself by keeping busy all day, but now that he was sitting, he finally had no excuse not to think about it. He felt a little bad about how he acted, which was strange for him. Usually he had no problem being distant and dismissive to people. With Naruko though, it was different. He wanted to go back to sleeping with his arms wrapped around her. He missed her constant talking, and her radiant smile. He wanted to gaze at her like he had before, and he wanted to spend all his time with her. He wanted to say sorry.

' _Who are you turning into? I have killed ninja without blinking twice… I am not a sappy pathetic mess… I am a strong member of the Anbu Black Ops… I need to get my mind off her… How did she worm her way into my head… Who is she and what has she done to me…'_

Kakashi sighed quietly, and put his hands behind his head.

' _Maybe it wouldn't hurt to be nicer to her though… She didn't deserve anything I did… I should apologize…'_ Kakashi decided thoughtfully. He shook his head and smiled a little under his mask. This girl was changing him to the very core of his being.

After Kakashi had finished eating his food, he stood up and walked quickly to the inn they stayed at. He was determined to wait for her there so that he could apologize after she finished the second trial.

' _I shouldn't have don't that to her this morning… Of all mornings to do it… Before her chuunin exam…'_ Kakashi thought guiltily.

When he got back to the inn, and entered their room he was surprised to see the room neatly organized. There was a note on the pillow, written messily. Kakashi laughed at Naruko's haphazard writing. He almost couldn't read it.

 _Kakashi,_

 _I have left for the village already, no need to wait for me._

 _I passed, and will be moving on to the final round. Thank_

 _you for coming with me, maybe I'll see you in the village,_

 _I don't know._

 _Have a safe trip home_

 _-Naruko Uzumaki_

Kakashi stared at the letter in disbelief. She had already left. Without him. The letter had seemed very short and to the point for Naruko as well.

' _She must be upset…'_ Kakashi thought guiltily again.

Kakashi then huffed angrily, mad at himself for being the way he was. Kakashi quickly packed up his clothes and other belongings, payed for the room, and started his journey back to Konoha at full speed.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

When Naruko and the team arrived home that night, their sensei offered to take Naruko along with his team to go get barbeque for celebration.

Naruko smiled, and nodded her head, "I would love to come," She said gratefully.

As they walked to the barbeque restaurant, Naruko noticed people staring at her. They were whispering and pointing their way.

"Sensei, what are they pointing at?" Kana asked innocently.

Their sensei looked up quickly, and furrowed his eyebrows, "It's nothing. Let's just go to the restaurant," He said and quickened his pace.

When they got to the restaurant it was full, and very lively. There were lots of family, and fellow ninja eating there, and the space was full of cheerful laughing and talking. The team walked in and their sensei requested a table for four. The host gazed at Naruko, who was looking at the floor nervously, and scoffed.

"Fine, this way,"

The hostess led them to a table in the back of the restaurant and sat them down. She put down three waters, and was about to walk away when Kana called out, "Excuse me ma'am you forgot to bring another water. We have four people,"

"I'm so sorry, I'll get that right away," She said without looking back.

"Some people are so rude," Kana said indignantly, "What did you do to her?"

"I'm sure she's just in a bad mood," Naruko said, "It's fine, really"

When the waitress came by to take their order, she took everyone's then looked at Naruko sourly, "What would you like?"

"Could I have some of the barbeque pork?"

"We're out," The waitress said shortly

"How can you be out of pork, you're a barbeque restaurant," Naruko said back

"We just are, so order something else, or don't order at all,"

Naruko pursed her lips, "I'll have your miso ramen,"

The waitress shifted her weight to her other leg, "We're out of noodles. It's a busy night, we've just opened. I can give you the broth,"

Naruko sighed, "Never mind, I'm not hungry anyways,"

The waitress nodded, and looked at the sensei. He gazed coldly at the waitress, "I will have two orders of barbeque chicken, one order of barbeque beef, and one order of the curry chicken,"

"Yes sir, coming right up," the waitress said cheerily, and walked away.

"I'm sorry Naruko, she was being very rude. I ordered extra food, so feel free to eat some," The sensei said apologetically

"Thank you very much," She said quietly

"What's wrong with everyone?" Akido said concernedly

"Some people are just rude people, and you have to just ignore them. Sometimes there is no reason for the way people act," The sensei explained,

"That's lame," Kana said

"Yes, it is. And it's sad that some people can't get over themselves," their sensei said.

The team chatted until the food came, and they all started grilling their food.

"This is so good!" Kana said excitedly.

"Thank you, sensei!" Akido said gratefully.

"Naruko are you going to eat? I got all of this extra food so you could eat too,"

"Oh, thank you. Yes, I will, I'm sorry," Naruko said.

The sensei smiled at her, "Don't worry about it. I wouldn't want you going hungry,"

The rest of the dinner went by smoothly. The Sensei paid for the meal, and waved goodbye to Naruko.

"We should hang out again Naruko!" Kana said excitedly.

"Yeah, and train for the final rounds!" Akido said.

"For sure! I'll see you guys later!" Naruko said with a laugh, and parted ways with her temporary team. As she walked back to Minato and Kushina's house, she again saw people pointing and staring at her.

' _Why is this happening again…? I didn't even do anything this time… They can't know I have Kurama inside me… right?'_

Naruko stopped as she was approached by two people who looked about her age.

"Hey, you," One of them said

"We know you're the demon who killed everyone," The other said

They both took a step towards her,

"Don't come closer," She said nervously, taking a step back.

"What are you going to do? Are you going to kill us like you did to all those people? Are you going to show everyone what a monster you really are?" The first boy said,

"No, I'm not-'' Naruko started.

The second boy lunged at her, punching her in the stomach. Naruko jumped back quickly, avoiding his hit, but jumping back into the first boy's arms. He hooked his arms under hers and held her tightly.

"Did you see what she just did?" the first boy called out, "She's a demon, and she tried to kill us!"

"Get ready to feel exactly how I felt when you killed my dad," The second boy said angrily. The first boy held Naruko tighter as she tried to get out of his grip.

"I don't want to hurt you, let me go!" Naruko screamed, "Somebody help me!"

"We're ninja, you can't do anything girlie," the first boy whispered in her ear, "Everyone hates you. Nobody wants to help you,"

Naruto gasped as the first boy came at her, and jabbed her in the stomach.

Naruto grunted, and coughed as his fist contacted her stomach, releasing a surge of chakra through her body. Her head fell to her chest, as she panted.

"Get away from her you cowards," A high voice said, "Unless you two want to die,"

The two boys just laughed out loud, "You can't do anything, just leave us alone, we'll be done with her soon,"

Naruko looked up as a foot slammed into the second boys face, and knocked him into the wall behind him. He fell slowly to the ground, knocked out cold.

The first boy made a startled sound, dropped Naruko, and ran away to avoid the purple haired girl who had approached them.

"Hey are you okay?" A voice said over Naruko, "My name is Anko. Let me help you up,"

Anko grabbed Naruko's arm and pulled her up next to her.

"Thanks," Naruko said softly, "Why did you come help?"

"I can't just let some punk ass boys beat up on you. That's just not okay," Anko said, placing her hands on her hips, "Plus you look like a cool person. I'll walk you home,"

Naruko smiled, "Thank you,"

"Anytime! What's your name, by the way?" Anko asked curiously

"Naruko Uzumaki,"

"So, you're the infamous nine-tailed Jinchuriki?"

Naruko grimaced, and nodded her head, "That would be me…"

"Don't worry, I'm not mad at you or anything. I just came back from… never mind… But the point is I've got nobody who wants me here. Us outcasts gotta stick together right?" Anko said jokingly.

Naruko nodded, and smiled gratefully, "Yeah, we do,"

As the two of them walked back to Minato's house they talked about each other and where they were from. When they got to the house, Anko smiled at Naruko again and said, "It was nice getting to know you. We should train together, or hang out. Deal?"

Naruko smiled and nodded, "Definitely,"

"Awesome!" Anko said with a thumb up,

Naruko laughed, and returned with her own thumb up. She then walked into the house, and called out that she was home.

"Naru-chan! It's been so long I missed you!" Kushina said, running into the living room, and giving Naruko a tight hug

"I missed you too," Naruko said happily.

"Naru, it's good to see you!" Minato said happily, coming into the room as well, "I've got some news for you,"

"What is it?" Naruko asked inquisitively

"You remember Jiraiya right?"

Naruko nodded,

"Well he is going to train you for the month leading up to the chuunin exam. And after the exam, you two will be going on a training mission of sorts. You will hone your skills as a ninja with him, and then come back to the village. At that point, Jiraiya will decide if you are fit to become a Jonin. How does that sound to you?"

Naruko grinned widely, "It sounds amazing! Thank you!"

Minato and Kushina smiled, "I thought you might like to do that. And additionally, because you and Jiraiya will be on an intel gathering mission as well as training, you will both be paid for your work,"

Naruko's mouth fell open, "No way! That's awesome!"

Kushina laughed, "We will miss you! And remember you are always welcome back here,"

"Thank you so much for everything you have done for me," Naruko said, "It's so nice having you guys here, you have no idea,"

"Naru-chan, we're glad to have you here too!" Kushina said, ruffling Naruko's hair playfully.

Naruko laughed and swatted her hand away.

"I'd better go take a shower, and get changed. I still feel wet from all of that rain," Naruko said with a shiver.

Minato and Kushina laughed at her silliness.

"I'm making dinner tonight, so be ready for the best rice you've ever had!" Minato said with a smile, "Even if it's not as good at Kushina's"

"Stop it, you're a great cook,"

"I'll be quick!" Naruko said, and ran off to take a shower.

When Naruko got to the bathroom, holding a towel and a clean pair of clothes, she placed them on the counter. She slowly peeled off the grimy clothes she had been wearing all day, and gazed at the red mark on her stomach.

' _That's going to bruise…'_ She said, feeling the swollen spot. Naruko sighed and started the shower. She took off the rest of her clothes, and stepped into the warm water. She watched as some dirty water swirled around the drain. She thought about all the good and bad things that had happened today. It had been a chaotic day for her. She washed her hair and body, then turned off the shower. After drying herself off, and getting changed, she stepped out and made her way to the kitchen, following the delicious smell of rice and fish.

 **A/N: And that's a wrap! Sorry for the long wait again, but school comes first. I mean I am totally blowing off homework to write this, but that's beside the point. Hopefully I can start finding more time to write these chapters, because I've got some stuff PLANNED.**

 **As always please tell me what you think, and what I can improve. I really do try to make this the best I can, and have changed some things based on your comments.**

 **Should I bring someone else back to the past?**

 **Should I have Kakashi and Naruto make up before she goes away?**

 **Should Naruko meet Gaara of this time?**

 **Let me know what you think!**

 **Thank you!**


	9. Chapter 9: Round and Round

**Chapter 9: Round and Round**

 **A/N: Hello I am back and on winter break finally~~~ So sorry for waiting so long to update, I've been writing this and I wanted to keep going but then I realized this chapter was getting WAY long.**

 **And sorry to anyone who wanted me to take more time with the trials… I just don'** **t** **necessarily want to dwell on that. I'd rather put my energy into more story stuff.**

 **Enjoy!**

Naruko's feet dragged in the dirt as she pulled herself to a stop. It had been another long day of training with Jiraiya, and the sun was setting behind her figure.

"You're already tired?" Jiraiya taunted fondly

"You've been drilling me all day, can't I get some food?" Naruko complained. She made a puppy dog face and plopped down on the ground with her legs crossed.

"You're ready to give up?" Jiraiya said haughtily. As he pointed at Naruko to say more though, his stomach let out a long, low growl. Jiraiya's eye twitched, and he said, "Okay, fine. dinner time,"

As the two of them strolled into the town they were spending the night at, Naruko soaked in the scenery. The village was surrounded by vast mountains, and tall trees.

"So, Naruko," Jiriaya started, "You're a pretty girl with nice blonde hair, nice…"

Naruko glared at him, and Jiraiya laughed nervously, "Anyways, why do you put up with that boy, Hatake. He's been a real jerk to you from what you've told me,"

Throughout their travels Naruko had told Jiraiya about her life before she had wound up in this time, and about everything else that happened to be on her mind. Three weeks was a long time, and Naruko liked to talk… a lot.

"What do you mean?"

"What do I mean? You're just as strong as him, if not stronger, yet you put up with him pushing you around. You need to be more stubborn with him. What happened to the girl who refuses to eat anywhere else in town if she's seen a ramen shop? Or the girl who can tame the nine-tailed fox? You are one stubborn girl, but when Kakashi rolls around you just melt? It's a little pathetic,"

Naruko sighed, "I don't know, he doesn't mean to be mean I don't think. He's always been like that,"

"Make him work harder to get your attention, believe me it'll work if he really likes you. And if it's not meant to be, then you'll know,"

Naruko nodded, "I'll try that,"

They walked in silence for a minute before they saw an inn that looked nice, "Let's stay here tonight," Naruko suggested

"Sounds good,"

The two of them walked into the Inn, paid the Inn keeper for the night, then walked to the end of the hall where their room was.

"How about you take a rest while I get us some food?" Jiraiya offered.

"No way, you're just going to get distracted by some women offering you half priced drinks," Naruko teased.

"Wha- I never – you don't know-," Jiraiya stuttered, "Fine, you go do whatever. Just bring back food," he yelled after Naruko, who was already leaving the room

"Be here when I come back," Naruko yelled back

Jiraiya rolled his eyes and leaned up against the wall, ' _Hatake is not as smart as he looks for making this one mad,"_ He thought to himself, ' _Just like her mother,'_

Naruko strolled through the town, window-shopping for food. She stopped when she spotted a dumpling stand selling rice balls and pork buns.

She walked up to the stand and smiled at vender, saying, "Hi, I'll take two pork buns and two rice balls please,"

"Alright, anything else for you?"

"Umm…. No I think that's it. Thank you!" She replied

The vendor nodded, and pulled out a box to put the food in.

"Here, have one of these, on the house," He said with a smile, after finishing with her food. The vendor handed her a piece of mocha in a bag.

Naruko blushed, and smiled back, "Thank you,"

As she walked back towards the inn, she took a bite out of the mochi cake and looked down at the napkin. It had a number messily scrawled on it, ' _That's sweet…'_ she thought to herself.

Naruko smiled, and bounced back to the inn to eat the rest of her dinner.

"You're back! Finally! I thought I might collapse from starvation," Jiraiya exclaimed when Naruko walked in the door.

Naruko just laughed, and tossed Jiraiya's food over to him. It landed in his lap and he commented, "Nice throw,"

As they sat together eating rice balls, Naruko looked around the room slowly. After a few minutes she asked, "So how far are we from Ame?"

"We'll be getting there tomorrow. Are you feeling ready for the third trial?"

Naruto scoffed, and took another bite of her rice ball. She swallowed, and said, "Why wouldn't I be ready? I'm way better than all those genin," Naruko smirked and took another bite of her food.

Jiraiya nodded, and took another bite of his food as well, "Have you thought about my offer?"

"The training?" Naruko inquired.

"No, this would be different from what you did with your Jiraiya. This would be a long-term mission. An undercover mission for the Hokage where we would be gathering intel. With the right guidance, you could become a master of espionage,"

Naruko raised her eyebrow, "Aren't all ninja masters of espionage?"

"Yes, but you'd be better than the average ninja,"

Naruko hummed to herself, thinking over the offer again. She nodded slowly, and said, "I think I would like that,"

"We wouldn't leave right away, necessarily," Jiriaya added, "But keep in mind you would not be able to contact anyone outside of the two of us. This includes Minato and Kushina,"

Naruko nodded,

"Or Kakashi," he added

Naruko's brows furrowed at that last statement, but she quickly recovered in saying, "Why would I care about him?"

Jiraiya smirked, "Atta girl,"

He messed up her hair, and stood up saying, "Get some sleep, we're leaving early tomorrow,"

Naruko grinned and swatted at Jiraiya's hand and replied, "Whatever old man, I do what I want,"

Kakashi woke up to the sun shining bright in his eyes. With a groan, he turned over and rolled out of bed. His feet hit the floor softly. Kakashi pushed his hands above his head, and leaned back. He sighed at the satisfying pops his back made as he leaned back. Kakashi let himself fall back onto the bed and stared at the dust floating in the sunlight

' _I can't believe all this dust is floating around…I should clean up more often…'_

Kakashi's apartment was deceptively dirty, in that it was dusty. Although the space was sparse with decoration, Kakashi rarely swept up the dust that gathered while he was not around. Kakashi could never justify spending a great deal of time in his apartment. He preferred reading in trees, and people watching to staying holed up in his home. As Kakashi stared lazily at the floating particles he noticed the sunny color they absorbed from the sun's light.

' _Yellow…'_

Yellow was the color of happiness, and the color of the sun as determined by the many young artists of the world. Kakashi had disliked the color for a long time. It was too.. sunny. Recently his fondness of the color had grown though. He realized this one day when he saw Naruko and Anko strolling around the town together. They were both dressed casually, not in their usual outfits. Kakashi had gone to school with Anko, and as a result saw her constantly throughout their childhood. He had never paid much attention to her, or to any other girls in his class. But Naruko was laughing with Anko in a goldenrod summer dress. He watched the hem of her dress ruffle behind her knees and noticed how tan she was. Kakashi looked down at his own hands, pale as snow. If she was the summer, he was the winter. Kakashi looked back at the street, but they were gone. Probably into a shop or café.

Kakashi opened his eyes. He hadn't realized that they were closed.

Kakashi stood up and approached his dresser, placing his hands on his hips. There were not many options for him in there, so he put on his normal attire, brushed his teeth, and grabbed an apple to eat on his way to the training ground. As he was walking towards the grounds, he noticed someone walking towards him. He turned and saw a chuunin approaching him.

"Kakashi Hatake?" She asked

"Hm?"

"The Hokage wishes to see you, sir"

Kakashi looked up to the sky, then nodded, throwing the core of the apple behind him.

Kakashi took his time getting to Minato-sensei's office. He had learned to let go of his high standards since Obito's death. It was incredibly liberating.

As Kakashi walked up to the door, he saw it was open. He knocked on the frame of the door, and walked in.

"Sensei,"

Minato looked up from his papers. "Ahhh, Kakashi. It's nice to see you. I feel like it's been a while, how are you?"

"Fine, sensei," Kakashi replied slowly. He was unsure of why he had been called here, "How are you?"

"Oh you know, paperwork, and a newborn don't necessarily mix well. But otherwise I'm doing just fine. I saw Naruko and Jiraiya last week when they stopped in town briefly. Did you happen to see her?"

Kakashi blinked, and his eyebrow twitched.

Minato smiled softly, "I'll take that as a no,"

He shuffled some papers, then placed them on the corner of his desk, "Kakashi, sit down,"

Kakashi nodded and moved to sit in front of Minato's desk.

"I want you to be present at the third part of the Chuunin exam. I know you and Naruko had a bit of a falling out, but it will be a good chance for you to do some more reconnaissance. How does that sound?"

"I can do that," Kakashi said

Minato's forehead creased, "How are you really doing Kakashi?"

"What do you mean? I'm fine,"

"I know you like Naruko, I'm not blind," Minato said matter-of-factly

Kakashi's eyes widened, but quickly returned to their lazy gaze, "What do you mean sensei?"

"You are so hopeless Kakashi," Minato sighed and leaned back in his chair, "You've been alone for a long time Kakashi, partially because of your own isolationist tendencies. I don't think I have ever seen you show interest in anyone your age, and you are lucky enough to have lots of friends who are willing to put up with your negligence. I'm going to tell you once, don't do that to Naruko. From what I've learned about her, she's a very sensitive and caring person under that blind confidence she shows off. She's spent most of her life without family or friends. If you ignore her she won't think it's cute, funny, or endearing, like a lot of girls your age do. She'll take it personally and probably stop talking to you. Be very careful Kakashi,"

Kakashi looked down, "I ,"

"Don't say anything. Just try to see it from her point of view. She is not another Anbu mission, you need to separate your personal self from your Anbu self,"

Kakashi's eyes stayed fixed on the same spot on the floor.

"I don't mean to be hard on you Kakashi, you know that I… Never mind. Make sure you are there for the exam on time. You are excused," Minato finished. He turned around and looked out the window. Minato watched as Kakashi's reflection silently stood up and exited the room.

' _This kid…'_ Minato thought to himself, and shook his head. He sat down, and continued the paperwork he had yet to finish.

Naruko stood in the large stadium. She listened to the rain that eternally fell in Amegakure. She saw Anko, Guy, Asuma, and Kurenai sitting together in the stadium, and went over to sit with them.

"Hey guys, what're you doing here?" Naruko said with a smile, after approaching her friends.

"Naru! We came here for you of course. I wouldn't want to miss the chance to see you get whopped by a bunch of genin," Anko said teasingly.

Naruko rolled her eyes and laughed, "Whatever, I'm gonna win so fast you won't know what happened,"

"I have faith that you will win Naruko! If you believe in yourself you can do anything!" Guy said enthusiastically

"Thanks," Naruko said with a laugh, "Thank you all for coming, it's really nice to have you guys here,"

"We wouldn't miss it for the world," Kurenai said

"I heard Kakashi was here too, have you seen him around?" Asuma said casually

Kurenai elbowed him in the side, and glared, "Are you stupid?"

Naruko laughed nervously and touched the back of her neck, "No I didn't know he would be here actually. We can go say hi if you'd like,"

Anko raised an eyebrow, and said, "I don't care what that white-haired creep has to say,"

"That was sweet of you to say," A smooth voice said from behind Nauko and Anko.

Naruko jumped, and turned around quickly, "Oh, Kakashi! I didn't see you there,"

Kakashi stared blankly at Naruko for a few seconds, then shrugged, "What are you guys doing here?" he said casually

Anko glared at Kakashi, "What do you think? We're here for Naruko,"

"What brings you around here? I haven't seen you since we went out to lunch, have you been on a mission?" Asuma asked, nudging Kakashi in the side.

"I've been on a few missions, but mostly just keeping to myself outside of that,"

Asuma punched Kakashi in the arm lightly, and said, "You've got to get out more. I know you've had it rough, but you've gotta start hanging out with us more,"

Kakashi stared at Asuma.

"You're so depressing Kakashi, lighten up," Anko quipped

"Hey, I've got to go," Naruko said suddenly, "But here," Naruko made a shadow clone, "I'll leave my clone with you guys so we can still hang out,"

"You can do that?" Guy exclaimed

"Won't that tire you out?" Kurenai asked

"What, one shadow clone?" Naruko said with a smirk, "I can make 100 of these and still be face Orochimaru no problem,"

Anko furrowed her brow, and Asuma said, "Why would you fight him?"

"Ah," Naruko said with a laugh, "You guys wouldn't get it,"

The group still looked confused, "I'll explain later, okay?"

"You'd better, kick some ass out there," Anko said with a side hug

"Will do,"

And with that, Naruko walked off to join her competitors.

"Kakashi you wanna stick around?" Asuma asked

"Sure, why not,"

"I'm sitting over here with Naruko… or Naruko's clone," Anko said defiantly, and marched over to the other side of the seats.

"So Kakashi," Asuma started, "What's with you and Naruko?"

"What do you mean?" Kakashi said, feigning ignorance

Asuma raised an eyebrow, "Don't be like that. You and Naruko were totally hitting it off a while back, didn't you two sleep together too?"

Kakashi's eyes widened and he blushed, "No, we didn't, I mean we did, but not in that,"

Asuma smirked, "Hey it's cool. Don't be embarrassed, I've had sex before, and so has Guy, we're all friends here,"

Guy smiled and made a fist with his hand, "It is a natural part of life, but I believe this puts me one point ahead of you,"

Kakashi raised a finger, but Asuma started to speak before he could.

"So how was she?" Asuma asked,

"Asuma! You can't go around asking people that! But despite that… she is very attractive," Guy said, putting his hand on his chin, "Kakashi are you two officially…"

"Oh shut it," Asuma said with a laugh, and punched Guy in the arm, "He'll tell us when he's ready. You do like her right? You can't keep your eyes off her, and you're usually so … solitary… and not interested,"

Kakashi glared at Asuma.

"If you don't tell me I'm going to go tell Anko you two slept together and she's going to beat you up,"

"Fine. Yes, I like her, she's cute, funny, nice, and I enjoy her company,"

Asuma stared at him, his eyes questioning Kakashi.

"And yes, we slept in the same bed, but we didn't have sex,"

"Are you a virgin?" Guy asked with a surprised look on his face, "Have you even kissed anyone?"

Kakashi's face got bright red

Asuma laughed, "Kakashi Hatake, the player himself, the bad boy. He hasn't even kissed a woman before,"

"Are you gay?" Guy asked, leaning in close to Kakashi's face "It is perfectly natural and acceptable for you to like men, and I will fully support you in whoever may interest you sexually," Guy put a hand on his shoulder, "I am here for you,"

"No I am not gay," Kakashi said, his face turning redder. He swatted away Guy's hand and said, "Let's just watch, they're about to announce the exam bracket,"

Guy and Asuma laughed and whispered something to eachother.

A crackle was heard over a speaker, and the crowd's roar quieted to a soft murmmer.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the third round of the chuunin exam. This year we have 8 genin who have proven themselves worthy of demonstrating their skills in front of the five kage,"

There was an eruption of applause from the crowd

"My name is Kyo, and I will be the proctor for this exam. Let me introduce our genin and announce todays bracket. First off, we have Naruko from Konohagakure up against Uzu from Amegakure. Second will be Kana from Konohagakure up against Ryuko of Amegakure. Third will be Akido from Konohagakure versus Yurei of Sunagakure. Finally, Mai from Amegakure will be up against Tsubaki of Sunagakure. A third Ninja from Suna is unable to come due to injury, which leaves us with eight competitors. Now let's begin the first match,"

Naruko's friends cheered from the stands, and Naruko smiled and waved with both hands to the crowd. As soon as the three other pairs had left the stadium the two ninja bowed and stood apart from eachother. Naruto stood in a relaxed stance, as if she were not about to fight her opponent. Uzu, her opponent, stood tense across from her.

"Are you both ready?" The proctor asked the two ninja. Naruko smiled and nodded, and Uzu nodded curtly.

"Alright. Ready… GO!" The proctor said, and took a few steps back.

Naruko stared at Uzu, watching as he stepped side to side. He took a deep breath, then lunged at Naruko. Naruko leaped gracefully over Uzu, flipping over his stunned figure. She then created a shadow clone, and landed in front of Uzu, creating a crater in front of her for _dramatic effects_. Naruko smirked, "How ya doin?" she said sweetly.

Uzu lunged for her again, yelling as he jumped towards her. Naruko yelped, and gasped as Uzu impaled her with his Kunai. A loud boo was heard from Anko in the audience.

"Whoops," Naruko said, and with a pop, her clone disappeared. Suddenly Uzu was swept off his feet by Naruko, who then pinned his arms with her knees and sat on his chest.

"One, two, three, …" The procrtor yelled, as Uzu scrambled to get out from under Naruko, "Ten! Naruko wins the match!"

"Sorry, about that one. Let me help ya up," Naruko said with a laugh. She took Uzu by the arm and yanked him up.

"Why are you even competing, you're obviously some sort of drop out genin! What are you, fifty?" He said angrily

"Alright lets go," The proctor said smacking him on the back, "Don't be a sore loser,"

Naruko skipped after the two of them waving at the cheers from the audience from her win.

As Naruko walked up the ramp to the balcony she would watch the other matches from, she saw Kana walking down.

"Hey good luck out there! Knock 'em dead," Naruko said with a smile.

"You were AWESOME!" Kana squeeled with excitement, "You've gotta teach me that move when we get back to the village,"

"Sure thing!" Naruko said with a smile. She ruffled Kana's hair and gave her a hug, "You're going to do great, I'll be watching from just up there," Naruko said, pointing up at the upper level of the structure. Kana nodded and ran out to catch up with her opponent.

Naruko finished walking up the stairs, and leaned over the rail to watch the next match.

"This is Kana from Konohagakure, and Ryuko from Amegakure. Are you two ready? Begin." The proctor yelled. As Naruko watched the fight, the two seemed evenly matched. She felt someone place a blanket over her shoulders, and put a hand on her head. She looked back and smiled.

"Did you make it in time to see my first match?" Naruko asked with a smile

Jiraiya laughed and said, "Of course I did, I just talked to Minato, and the Kages were all buzzing about your quick win!"

"Yes!" Naruko said, punching the air above her head

"I think you'll make it to chuunin just fine," Jiraiya said with pride, then motioned for her to come closer, "You might even become a Jonin if you really show off your skills," he whispered to her.

"No way!" Naruko shouted,

"Hey, don't go spreading that information around, I'm not supposed to be telling you this," Jiraiya hissed.

"Alright old man, I can keep a secret," Naruko said smugly.

"Don't call me old man! I am the great sage-"

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it before toad sensei," Naruko said, cutting off her sensei

Jiraiya smiled fondly, "So, I see a bunch of your friends have come to support you,"

Naruko nodded, "Yeah they're all so nice! I was surprised to see them. I was really surprised when I saw Kakashi here too,"

Jiraiya leaned up against the rail next to her, and watched the match for a few seconds, "You'd better sort this whole Kakashi thing out before we leave,"

Naruko nodded, "He's so annoying all the time, I mean really why is he being like this? What did I ever do to him? He's just arrogant. Just like Sasuke was,"

Jiraiya looked over, confused, "Whose Sasuke?"

"He's an old friend. We were on the same genin team. We were best friends… I guess… I don't really know anymore to be honest. The last time I saw him, we vowed to kill each other,"

Jiraiya watched Naruko, then turned back to the match, "That sounds complicated,"

Naruko nodded, "It was. But… I can't hate him. He's been consumed by hatred. By this determination to kill his brother, then to avenge his brother, then to do who knows what. I honestly can't keep up. We almost killed each other as genin, but we both couldn't bring ourselves to finish it… and next thing I know he's gone,"

"Do you think you'd ever be able to find your way back to your time?" Jiraiya asked solemnly.

Naruko thought for a moment, "I don't know if I would want to. I love my friends from back home, but everything is falling apart there. Half of my friends are dead from the war, and Madara has all 8 tailed beasts at this point. I just don't know what I would do,"

"That is a tough one," Jiraiya said with a sigh

"But I love it here, I don't think I could leave everyone," Naruko said with a smile. She looked back at the match and saw that Kana had Ryuko pinned with a kunai to her throat.

"Yeah Kana!" Naruko yelled, she clapped and cheered as the proctor announced Kana the winner

"Don't worry about it too much, kid. Good luck, you're going to do great,"

Naruko turned and smiled at him and said, "Thank you so much, Jiraiya-sensei,"

"Okay so Naruko is awesome," Anko said excitedly as Naruko exited the stadium.

"That was pretty awesome what she did with the shadow clone," Asuma added

"She trains with her shadow clones," Kakashi said flatly

"So, like one on one with herself?" Kurenai asked

"I've only seen her train with 20 so far, but I imagine she could do more if she wanted. It's an incredibly effective form of training suited to her massive chakra reserves,"

"How do you know so much?" Guy asked

"I watched her with my sharingan once," Kakashi said casually

"Creepy," Anko said with a laugh

"Yeah seriously, how often do you watch her Kakashi," Asuma teased

Kakashi rolled his eyes, "None of us have seen what she can really do, she probably has a lot of skills we don't know about,"

"I'm right here you know," Naruko (her clone) said.

"Oh yeah," Asuma said, "Sorry about that,"

Naruko shrugged, "I am pretty awesome,"

"Oh really?" Kakashi said softly, with a glint in his eye

Naruko tilted her head slightly and grinned slyly, "More than you know, Hatake,"

Everyone in between the two of them looked back and forth with wide eyes. None of them said a word for a minute.

Asuma leaned over to Kurenai and whispered, "Is it just me or is there some mad sexual tension happening here"

Kurenai tried not to smile.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Naruko asked, breaking the tension between the group.

"No, it's nothing," Asuma reassured her.

"Alright, I'm going to get some food I'll be right back," Naruko said, and bounced up the stairs to find the concessions.

Asuma looked over to Kakashi, with his eyebrows raised. He was about to ask Kakashi a question but before he could Kakashi said, "I have to go," and disappeared in a puff of leaves

The group left was silent, until Guy said, "Do you think they're meeting up?"

"What do you think?" Asuma said sarcastically.

Naruko was walking through the semi-crowded halls of the inside of the stadium. She felt a light breeze on her neck, and when she turned around Kakashi grabbed her and pulled her into an empty hallway. Naruko blinked quickly and looked around.

"Where," Naruko started.

"Naruko I'm sorry. For everything," Kakashi said softly. He took a step back and stared at her for a second, before starting again, "I've been a real asshole lately and you don't deserve that, you deserve to be loved and respected and I haven't been fair to you,"

Naruko opened her mouth to speak, but Kakashi said, "I can't stop thinking about you. You're in my head when I wake up, when I sleep, and everything I see reminds me of you. I know I'm not perfect but I will… Change… You've changed me,"

"Kakashi," Naruko whispered.

Kakashi stepped forward until his face was only a few inches from hers. Naruko's heart was beating out of her chest. She wondered if he could feel it. She brought her hand up to touch Kakashi's masked face, and trailed her fingers across the hem of his mask until she had her hand in his hair on the back of his neck. Kakashi breathed deeply, and closed his eyes. He took another step forward so that their legs were side by side, and their hips were touching.

"Naruko," Kakashi whispered. She smelled like vanilla and mint. Kakashi brushed the hair that had fallen out of her braid behind her ear, and she leaned into his hand and closed her eyes. Naruko licked her lips lightly and looked at Kakashi's covered lips. Her eyes moved slowly up to his one visible eye. With her other hand, Naruko touched the hem of Kakashi's mask again, and slowly slipped her fingers under his mask. She pulled softly, and Kakashi lifted his head to pull down the mask around his neck. Naruko took a quick breath at the sight of his face, and Kakashi leaned in to kiss her open mouth. Naruto leaned into the kiss, bringing their bodies closer together. Her hand trailed down his neck to his shoulder as they continued to kiss passionately, both cascading into their feelings of desire and lust for each other. Kakashi and Naruko were both breathing heavily. Kakashi pushed Naruko until her back touched the cold stone behind her back. Naruko felt a shiver go down her spine, and wasn't sure if it was from the cold or Kakashi. After a long kiss Naruko separated her lips from Kakashi's, and leaned her head on his shoulder. Kakashi held her close and kissed her neck slowly.

She took a deep breath, and said, "We should get back soon, they're going to think something is up,"

Kakashi nodded his head and brought his head up to look into her eyes, "So what does this mean,"

Naruko gazed into Kakashi's eyes, both were uncovered. The dichotomy of Kakashi's eyes was mesmerizing.

"I don't know yet," She said softly. Naruko ran her hands through Kakashi's messy hair, trying to fix the newly disheveled look of his smooth white hair.

Kakashi smiled at her, "Do you want to go out for ramen when we get back to Konoha?"

Naruko smiled and nodded, "That would be great,"

Kakashi nodded back and took a step back. He smoothed his pants and ran his hair through his hair. The two of them walked out of the hallway, which Naruko didn't realize as so long. After a minute, they finally heard the dull roar of people walking around and yelling to get food.

"I'll meet you up at the stands," Kakashi said when they exited the hall.

"See you there," Naruko said with a smile.

Kakashi smirked, and pulled her in for another kiss. He then pulled his mask up, and disappeared in a gust of wind and leaves.

Naruko stood in a daze for a moment before smiling smugly, and turning on her heel and walking towards the shaved ice stand.

When Kakashi returned to the upper stadium he walked nonchalantly towards his group, and sat down in his previous seat.

"What happened to you?" Asuma asked quietly.

"What do you mean?" Kakashi inquired back

"Your hair. It looks a little… ruffled,"

"Oh," Kakashi said, attempting to fix his hair.

"I'm was kidding. But now I know you were up to something… involving Naruko?" He asked, nudging Kakashi. Kakashi just smiled and looked forward.

"Maybe I'll tell you later,"

Asuma opened his mouth in protest, but saw Naruko coming down the stairs, "You're going to tell me about this," Asuma said, pointing to the two of them

"Hey guy's, I got some shaved ice to share," Naruko said happily, bouncing down the steps.

"Don't fall," Anko teased.

Naruko just laughed. "Take what you'd like" She offered to them all.

"Naruko you are so kind to us. We all are in debt to you," Guy said, with crocodile tears,

"Maybe just you," Kakashi said, picking out a blue shaved ice, "Thank you Naruko"

"You're welcome, and don't worry about it Guy. They weren't very expensive, it's no big deal" Naruko said casually, placing the paper cup holder on the ground after everyone had taken their shaved ice.

"So humble," Guy said, tears still swimming in his eyes, "I can only aspire to be as kind as you Naruko,"

Naruko laughed, "You're so funny Guy, you remind me of a friend I have at home. He acts just like you,"

"So why were you gone for so long," Anko asked with a smile. Kurenai leaned in too to hear what had happened.

Naruko's face lit up with a smile, "Come here. Okay, so Kakashi came up and was all ' _I'm so sorry... blah, blah ...'_ and he kept getting closer and then before I knew it we were making out! And his face... is so cute… Has Kakashi dated before?" Naruko said quickly

"Not that I know of," Kurenai said

"I don't know either, but I was gone for a while. But what about you being mad at Kakashi?" Anko said excitedly

"Well he said sorry," Naruko reasoned, "He seemed genuine to me,"

"Alright…" Anko said slowly, "You're a very trusting person. He's lucky you like him,"

Naruko grinned and nodded.

"They're announcing the brackets," Asuma said, quieting the group.

"For our second round, we have Yurei of Sunagakure versus Naruko of Konohagakure. Second, we have Mai of Amegakure versus Kana of Konohagakure,"

There was a loud cheer from the crowd

"First up we will see Naruko fight Mai,"

The two ninja entered the stadium. Naruko waved again at the spectators, and ran out to the middle of the arena.

Her competitor, ran out, but looked very nervous.

"Are you okay? You look a little sick" Naruko asked.

Mai nodded, but didn't say a word.

"Whenever you're ready," The proctor said. They both nodded their heads, and he began the match. Mai quickly got into a defensive stance. They slowly walked in a circle, until they had walked to their original position again.

"Are you going to attack? Or will I have to first?" Naruko taunted

Mai gulped, and Naruko took a step forward. Mai put her hands together and used the body flicker technique to transport behind Naruko with a puff of smoke.

She smiled and said, "Hah, got you"

But with another puff of smoke Naruko dispersed her shadow clone, and tapped Mai on the shoulder.

"Behind you," Naruko said loudly, making Mai jump.

"You've got to be more careful with that, if you move too fast and you don't see what the enemy is doing, you'll just get taken advantage of,"

"I, uh," Mai stuttered

Naruko grinned, "Shadow clone jutsu,"

100 clones popped up around Mai, and they all said, "Are you ready?"

Mai's eyes widened, she took a large breath, and passed out.

Naruko dispersed all her clones in the arena, and caught Mai. She laid the younger girl on the ground softly, turned around, and gave the crowd two thumbs up, and a dazzling smile.

The crown erupted into noise. Both cheers and boos could be heard from the crowd as Naruko walked off the field.

Naruko stood in the same spot to watch Kana fight the Suna ninja. The fight did not last as long as the first one. The boy fighting her seemed much older, and was very big compared to her. Despite this, Kana put up a good fight. In the end though, Yurei won by knocking Kana unconscious. Yurei was a very aggressive fighter.

"We have our final two competitors! Yurei from Sunagakure, and Naruko from Konohagakure,"

Naruko ran down the steps, and out to the field. The rain was still pouring down on her, once again drenching her shortly after entering the arena.

"Are you two ready to fight?" the proctor asked,

"Yes,"

"Yes,"

The proctor nodded, "Begin!"

Yurei immediately pulled out a pair of swords and dashed at Naruko. She quickly blocked both swords with her kunai knives. The two pushed against each other, but quickly separated again. They jumped back from each other. Yurei then swung his swords together and yelled

"Ferocious Wind!"

A large whirlwind barreled towards Naruko.

"Rassengan!" Naruko yelled, throwing her arm into the incoming whirlwind. The wind whipped around her, but quickly died because of her opposing wind attack.

"We're both wind nature! Cool!" Naruko said with a laugh. She was enjoying this fight.

Yurei smirked, and lunged at her again.

"You're quick," She said, dodging his sword strikes.

"Naruko," A famliar voice said.

Naruko whipped around. Sasuke was standing in the middle of the arena.

"Are you ready to die,"

"Sasuke," She growled.

Naruko walked towards Sasuke. She used Kurama's chakra and transformed into her tailed beast form. The stadium went still when they saw Naruko's body transform.

 ** _'Snap out of it, you're in a genjutsu'_**

Naruko stopped. Her eyes darted around quickly, and she put her hands together to release the genjustsu. Naruko turned around and saw Yurei frozen where he stood before.

"I give up, don't come near me you freak!" Yurei yelled, "I give up, I can't fight… that,"

Naruko took a deep breath and returned to her natural state, "I didn't mean to scare you, I'm fine! Look!" Naruko said, spreading out her arms, "I wouldn't hurt you,"

"No!" Yurei yelled, "You're just like that demon from the sand, you'll kill us all!"

Naruko stopped, pursing her lips. His words echoed through the silent stadium.

"Um, the winner is Naruko Uzumaki!" The proctor said nervously. There was silence. Then Naruko heard a small group of cheers and claps. She turned and looked at her friends who were cheering. Slowly the silence was broken by a tentative applause for her. Naruko waved shyly at the audience, but left the center stage quickly. She saw Jiraiya standing in the entryway, and she ran towards him.

"Naruko are you okay?" Jiraiya said, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"I'm fine, let's just go," Naruko said, walking past him quickly.

Jiraiya nodded, "What happened out there?"

Naruko ran her hand through her soaking hair, "He put me in a genjutsu, and probably saw Sasuke in my thoughts. My first genin exam we were determined to make it to the final two together and fight. I was thinking about him during the match and he could…" Naruko took a deep breath, "I just freaked. I completely forgot I was in the exam,"

"Are you okay now?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yes," Naruko said, with a small smile, "Let's just get back to the inn. I want to take a long shower,"

Jiraiya giggled and said, "Mind if I,"

"Shut up you pervert!" Naruko yelled, punching in the arm after

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding! I'll go get us food and meet you back at the inn,"

"Sounds good," Naruko said, waving as they went their separate ways.

 **A/N:**

 **Did this longish chapter make up for the wait? Hopefully I will be able to get another chapter out this week before I go back to school. Also, hoping I can gather the time to start writing more of this during the school year...**

 **As always, thanks for reading!**


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